Court Opinion

ID: 9883990
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:30:11.930375+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:34.131263
License: Public Domain

OPINION
FORSBERG, Judge.
Respondent William D. Sommerness, as trustee for the next of kin and the surviving spouse of Thomas Michael Sommerness, brought this dram shop action against appellant Quadna Resort Services, individually and d.b.a. Chalet Bar and Loft Bar (“Quadna”), and respondent Herb Stansberry, individually and d.b.a. Corner Club (“Corner Club”). Quadna then attempted to implead respondent Sportsman’s Bar (“Sportsman’s”) as a third party defendant, seeking to obtain contribution from Sportsman’s in the event Quadna was found liable. Because the deceased Thomas Sommerness owned Sportsman’s, the trial court granted Sportsman’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed it from the action. We 'affirm.
FACTS
Thomas Sommerness died in a one-car accident during the early morning of December 1, 1984, after consuming alcohol at Sportsman’s, the Corner Club, and a bar at Quadna. Sommerness owned Sportsman’s.
Ruling that a liquor vendor cannot get contribution from the alleged intoxicated person (“AIP”) in a suit for loss of support by the AIP’s family, the trial court granted partial summary judgment and dismissed Quadna’s third party complaint against Sportsman’s. Following the court’s determination that there was no just reason for delay of entry of judgment, Quadna appeals.
ISSUE
May a vendor in a dram shop action get contribution from a bar owned and operated by the AIP?
ANALYSIS
The Dram Shop Act provides:
Every husband, wife, child, parent, guardian, employer, or other person who is injured in person or property, or means of support, or incurs other pecuniary loss by any intoxicated person, or by the intoxication of any person, has a right of *180action, in his own name, against any person who, by illegally selling or bartering intoxicating liquors or non-intoxicating malt liquors, caused the intoxication of that person, for all damages sustained. * * * The provisions of section 604.01, as applied under this section, do not apply to actions for injury to person, property, or loss of means of support brought by a husband, wife, child, parent, guardian or other dependent of an intoxicated person.
Minn.Stat. § 340.95 (1984).
Under this statute, the wife and children of an AIP may sue a liquor vendor for loss of support due to an injury to that spouse or parent. Ascheman v. Village of Hancock, 254 N.W.2d 382 (Minn.1977). However, the family may not sue the AIP himself in a direct action in negligence for loss of support. Id. at 384. Thus, in an action for loss of support, no common liability exists between the liquor vendor and the AIP since the family may only sue the vendor. Id.
Common liability must be present for a vendor to obtain contribution from another party under the Civil Damage Act. Id. The Ascheman court examined the purposes of Minn.Stat. § 340.95 and found that the legislative intent behind the act was to suppress the illegal furnishing of liquor and to provide a remedy. Id. at 385 (citing Ross v. Ross, 294 Minn. 115, 200 N.W.2d 149 (1972)). To prevent frustration of the remedial purpose behind the act, the court reasoned that the AIP’s negligence could not be considered since it would diminish the family’s recovery. Id.
Ascheman thus affirms the requirement of common liability in actions founded upon the Dram Shop Act and prevents contribution from the AIP. Ascheman was reaffirmed in Conde v. City of Spring Lake Park, 290 N.W.2d 164 (Minn.1980). In Conde, the court held that the vendor may not implead the AIP for contribution, nor may the negligence of the AIP be imputed to the family.
This case presents a variation of Asche-man and Conde. In Ascheman, the AIP was simply a customer at a bar who was injured when the car he was driving was involved in a one-car accident. In Conde, the AIP was again a customer in a bar who was injured while walking home. In this case the AIP, Thomas Sommerness, was the owner of one of the bars at which he consumed alcohol, according to the unre-butted affidavit of Sportsman’s attorney. As owner of Sportsman’s, he was the party to be sued for any of its liabilities.
However, because Thomas Sommerness was also the AIP, and his negligence cannot be used to diminish the recovery of his family, he cannot be sued for contribution. A suit against Sportsman’s is a suit against Thomas Sommerness. Because Thomas Sommerness may not be sued for contribution in an action for loss of support, Sportsman’s is also not available for contribution.
DECISION
The trial court correctly found that no common liability existed between Sportsman’s and Quadna.
Affirmed.
LANSING, J., dissents.