Court Opinion

ID: 9735190
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:04:46.195515+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:55.934429
License: Public Domain

*988KERN, Senior Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur with the majority’s holding that “D.C.Code § 25-121(b) provides the basis for civil liability by a tavern owner to an injured underage intoxicated patron” and, as such, a tavern keeper may be sued for common law negligence or negligence per se for violation of this standard. I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding on the second issue in this appeal that “assumption of risk is inapplicable in this context because an underage, intoxicated person is deemed incapable, as a matter of law, of relieving the tavern keeper of the duty which the statute imposes.”
In this jurisdiction, we have recognized the proposition that despite the choice by the legislature to extend protection over a particular class of persons, such as underage patrons of taverns and bars, an individual in a protected class may choose to act in such an egregiously reckless manner as to require that such individual take responsibility for his own actions. See Martin v. George Hyman Constr. Co., 395 A.2d 63 (D.C.1978). It is well established that a person can impliedly accept the risk of harm arising from the defendant’s conduct “by voluntarily electing to proceed, with knowledge of the risk, in a manner which will expose him to it.” Restatement (Second) of ToRts § 496C (1965). Thus, as long as the choice is truly voluntary, such an assumption of risk can act as a bar to recovery. This court has said:
It thus becomes critical that the plaintiffs consent to what would otherwise be the defendant’s negligence be given freely and without any element of coercion attributable to the defendant, for “the risk is not assumed where the conduct of the defendant has left [the plaintiff] with no reasonable alternative.”
Martin, supra, 395 A.2d at 72, citing W. Prosser, Law of Torts 451 (4th ed.1971).
The record reflects that Jarrett, a 19 year-old George Washington University student, knowingly made the choice to drink liquor before he went to Winston’s and then chose to go to Winston’s even though he was under the- legal age on the night of September 16,1993. Further, Jarrett voluntarily carried on his person false identifications to enable him to obtain access to bars. He was in control of these decisions; no one coerced him or tricked him into obtaining false documents and then drinking excessively that night.
Not only did Jarrett carry three fake identifications on his person, indicating an intent to flaunt the law and consume alcohol despite his age, and consumed four to six cups of beer prior to going to Winston’s, but Jarrett also attempted to purchase alcohol at another restaurant before going to Winston’s. While at Winston’s, Jarrett consumed at least three shots of alcohol, and four or five bottles of beer. These actions sufficiently establish that Jarrett willfully set out to become, in the words of a witness, “ridiculously drunk” that night.
The reckless conduct exhibited by Jarrett is not only relevant in determining his assumption of the risk, but such conduct needs to be “balanced against [the] reckless conduct of [Winston’s].” Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth. v. Johnson, 726 A.2d 172, 176 (D.C.1999)(en banc). Although it is true that Winston’s was negligent in violating the duty of care established in D.C.Code § 25—121(b), it is sad but true that Jarrett’s own actions were clearly reckless and willful. Under these particular circumstances, Jarrett’s wanton and reckless behavior should be viewed as an assumption of risk, and therefore a bar to recovery.
Allowing assumption of risk to act as a complete bar to recovery when a person *989becomes “ridiculously drunk” voluntarily and later causes harm to himself is consistent with the tort principles to which this jurisdiction adheres. As this court has recognized, these principles serve to “enforce the disincentives to voluntary self-destruction on which society, through civil law, insists.” Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth. v. Johnson, supra, 726 A.2d at 175. While Johnson involved a case of suicide, the choice to go to extreme lengths to drink one’s self to oblivion and then walk at least three blocks to the middle of a busy city thoroughfare is no less a voluntary choice of self-destruction.
Accordingly, I agree with the majority that Jarrett was a member of the group of persons the legislature sought to protect under D.C.Code § 25-121(b), and therefore, this case should be remanded for further findings of fact. If the jury finds that Jarrett voluntarily made the choice to act in a reckless and self-destructive manner on the night of September 16, 1993, it can decide to consider the doctrine of the assumption of risk. Thus, if the jury finds that Jarrett did indeed assume the risk of his actions, any recovery against Winston’s for its negligence in serving him would be denied.