Court Opinion

ID: 9702151
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:56:45.787075+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:34.085587
License: Public Domain

Levin, J.
(concurring). I agree with the majority that the complaint did not state a claim for breach of an independent common-law duty.1
The complaint alleged that Plum Hollow owed decedent the duty of not allowing Tomakowski "to be served excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages, making him unable to properly and safely drive from his work situation.”2 This allegation *199was made on the basis of 2 Restatement Torts, 2d, § 317, p 125,3 which provides that a master is under a duty to exercise reasonable care to control his servant while acting "outside the scope of his employment” so as to prevent the servant from "conducting himself as to create an unreasonable risk of bodily harm” to others when the servant "is upon the premises in possession of the master or upon which the servant is privileged to enter only as his servant” and the master "knows or has reason to know that he has the ability to control his servant” and "of the necessity and opportunity for exercising such control.”
The black letter language of § 317 could indeed be read as encompassing consumption of alcoholic beverages, but the cases that provided authority for this language are not of that kind.4 This Court has observed that the language of the Restatement of Torts should be read in light of the factual situations in the cases that provided a basis for the *200promulgation of the black letter.5
The negligence claim in Romeo v Van Otterloo, 117 Mich App 333; 323 NW2d 693 (1982), was based on § 317. The principal authority relied on in Romeo is Int’l Distributing Corp v American Dist Telegraph Co, 186 US App DC 305; 569 F2d 136 (1977), where the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that a § 317 claim had been stated where it was alleged that adt employees, on the premises of a customer they were privileged to enter only because they were adt employees, had stolen merchandise belonging to the customer. The conduct that the employer allegedly had reason to know it should have controlled was thievery. In the instant case and in Romeo, the conduct that it is asserted the employer should have controlled is consumption of alcoholic beverages at an employer-sponsored function, conduct that it has not heretofore been thought there is a duty to control.6_
*201The claim that Plum Hollow should have provided alternative means of transportation finds no support in § 317, which speaks only of the exercise of reasonable care to control the conduct of the servant upon the premises of the master or upon premises that the servant is privileged to enter only as his servant. Tomakowski’s driving that is alleged to have caused the accident occurred off the Plum Hollow premises. The accident occurred on a public highway, not "upon the premises in possession of the master or upon which the servant is privileged to enter only as his servant.”7

 In Manuel v Weitzman, 386 Mich 157; 191 NW2d 474 (1971), where this Court held that the remedy provided by the dramshop act did not exclude an independent common-law cause of action, there was evidence that the owner of a tavern had failed to take sufficient measures to eject an obstreperous and disruptive customer.

 The complaint adequately alleged that Plum Hollow was aware of Tomakowski’s fatigue and consumption of alcoholic beverages, and that Plum Hollow should have been aware of the need and opportunity for exercising control.
The complaint alleged that Plum Hollow owed a duty and was negligent in failing to supervise the conduct of its employee, Tomakowski, "at this type of dinner and drink affair, so as to prevent those reasonably foreseeable consequences that was one of the proximate causes of this wrongful death . . . .” The complaint further alleged that, having in mind that Tomakowski had been working for thirteen hours before the dinner and that there was no public bus or other public transportation for those who, like Tomakowski, were "not reasonably fit to drive while at work” and "should not have been left *199to fend for themselves to the ultimate danger of the decedent,” Plum Hollow had an obligation to provide alternative means of transportation for Tomakowski.
If the only deficiency was in pleading a § 317 claim, the cause should, indeed, be remanded to provide an opportunity to file an amended complaint.

 See ante, p 193, n 6, for full text.

 The kind of cases in mind when § 317 was drafted are described in the reporter’s notes:
Thus, a factory owner is required to exercise his authority as master to prevent his servants, while in the factory yard during the lunch hour, from indulging in games involving an unreasonable risk of harm to persons outside the factory premises. He is not required, however, to exercise any control over the actions of his employees while on the public streets or in a neighboring restaurant during the lunch interval, even though the fact that they are his servants may give him the power to control their actions by threatening to dismiss them from his employment if they persist. [2 Restatement Torts, 2d, § 317, pp 125-126.]

 See Smith v Allendale Mutual Ins Co, 410 Mich 685, 713; 303 NW2d 702 (1981).

 The question whether a social host should be subject to liability for dispensing excessive quantities of alcoholic beverages or for failing to provide alternative means of transportation should not depend on whether the host is an employer of some or all the guests at a function.
If this Court were to recognize social host responsibility, it is doubtful whether a different rule should obtain when the host is a dramshop.
The question whether this Court should recognize a common-law duty on the part of a social host respecting the dispensing of alcoholic beverages was adverted to in Longstreth v Gensel, 423 Mich 675, 685-686; 377 NW2d 804 (1985), where this Court reviewed decisions from other jurisdictions, some holding that a host serving liquor to an intoxicated adult is subject to liability for injuries inflicted on third persons, and others holding that he is not. This Court said:
These recent cases indicate that the law in other jurisdictions is in a state of flux in this area. We emphasize that that issue is not before us today and that the common-law rule remains the law until modified by this Court or the Legislature. [Id., p 686.]
*201Millross’ brief refers to Longstreth, but does not refer to these or other cases, and does not address the competing arguments. The comments that Longstreth is "consistent with current public policy and the desire to limit alcohol-related injuries and fatalities,” and the "axiom that those in a position of responsibility and authority must be vigilant to prevent or minimize drunk driving,” do not call for a response to the question whether this Court should modify the common-law rule that a social host does not have responsibility for the consequences of dispensing alcoholic beverages to his guests. Absent a change in that rule, a social host has no responsibility to provide alternative means of transportation.

 A different question would be presented if an employer had permitted an intoxicated employee to remain on the employer’s premises or enter upon the premises of a customer, and the employee had there assaulted or otherwise abused another person on the premises. Here the injury occurred neither on the employer’s nor on a customer’s premises, but on a public highway.