Court Opinion

ID: 9849818
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:46:59.227069+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:26.527433
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
In view of the principle that all legitimate inferences must be drawn in favor of the party resisting a motion for summary judgment, I must respectfully dissent. See Anderson v. Redwal Music Co., 122 Ga. App. 247, 249 (176 SE2d 645). In my view, genuine issues of material fact remain with regard to appellees’ claim of negligent parental supervision and with regard to appellees’ allegation that Rowland wilfully, knowingly and unlawfully served an alcoholic beverage (beer) to a person who was not of lawful drinking age.
1. “[T]he true test of parental negligence vel non is whether in the exercise of ordinary care [the parent] should have anticipated that harm would result from the unsupervised activities of the child and whether, if so, [the parent] exercised the proper degree of care to guard against this result. Muse v. Ozment, 152 Ga. App. 896 (264 SE2d 328) (1980).” Hill v. Morrison, 160 Ga. App. 151 (286 SE2d 467). In the case sub judice, the majority holds that no genuine issue of material fact remains with regard to the issue of negligent parental supervision, finding that the Manuels “neither knew nor should have known that Rowland had a propensity for making alcohol available to underage guests at their home during their absence.”1 In my view, there is evidence which reveals that the Manuels were aware of their child’s propensity to illegally share and consume alcohol with his teenage friends.
In his deposition, Rowland testified that he had been tried before a jury and convicted of an alcohol related offense and that he was on probation for this offense at the time the Manuels left him at home alone with permission to throw the unsupervised slumber party.2 Fur*588ther, Jay Smith’s deposition testimony reveals that Rowland’s alcohol related conviction was not the only encounter Rowland had with law enforcement over the illegal use of alcohol before the unsupervised beer party of July 1989. Specifically, Smith testified that he and Rowland often shared in the purchase and consumption of alcohol; that they “started getting in trouble ...” for consuming alcohol when the boys first obtained access to an automobile and that “[t]he first occasion was when we got a minor drinking charge. Um, I was driving my car — I’d got a car by then [and] we got a minor drinking charge and our parents had to go to the jail and get us out. . . . We were driving, we got pulled over. I didn’t have any lights on, and we’d been drinking. . . .”
Rowland testified that the purchase' and consumption of alcohol with his friends was a common practice before the fatal collision; that it was then not uncommon for him to come home drunk; that he had a history of disciplinary suspensions from school prior to July 1989, and that before then he consumed illegal drugs (marijuana).3 Rowland also testified as to his parents’ cavalier attitude toward his illegal drinking activities, affirming that he was never disciplined “because of drinking before these events in July 1989[.]” It is my view, that this evidence and Rowland’s mother’s testimony that she instructed Rowland not to engage in drinking activities during the Manuels’ Florida vacation raises genuine issues of material fact regarding the Manuels’ knowledge of Rowland’s proclivity to engage in beer drinking activities with his friends. In other words, the circumstances of the case sub judice demand that a jury determine whether the Manuels should have, in the exercise of ordinary care, anticipated their son’s beer drinking slumber party and, if so, whether the Manuels exercised the proper degree of care in guarding against such dangerous conduct. See Hill v. Morrison, 160 Ga. App. 151, supra. I, therefore, do not adopt the majority’s characterization of appellees’ claim of parental negligence as “ingenious” or otherwise quixotic. On the contrary, it is my view that appellees’ theory of liability is consistent with Georgia’s long standing policy of parental liability in cases of parental indifference to a child’s proclivity or propensity toward specific dangerous conduct. See McBerry v. Ivie, 116 Ga. App. 808 (159 SE2d 108) (shotgun); Glean v. Smith, 116 Ga. App. 111 (156 *589SE2d 507) (pistol); Herrin v. Lamar, 106 Ga. App. 91 (126 SE2d 454) (rotary lawnmower); Faith v. Massengill, 104 Ga. App. 348 (121 SE2d 657) (BB gun); Davis v. Gavalas, 37 Ga. App. 242 (139 SE 577) (velocipede). To hold otherwise, ignores the fact that alcohol in the hands of a child is a dangerous instrumentality and is at least as dangerous as a child’s reckless use of a velocipede, a BB gun, a rotary lawnmower, a pistol or a shotgun.
Further, I do not think that recognition of parental liability in circumstances such as the case sub judice extends parental responsibility into the realm of impossibility. My view simply favors parental responsibility under circumstances where it is reasonably foreseeable that a child will engage in criminally dangerous conduct and where it is likely that the foreseeable conduct will harm others. To say less, licenses the demise of parental responsibility and fosters the view of Rowland’s mother, i.e., that teenagers will engage in illegal and dangerous activities “when they get a chance to.” It appears that similar views compelled a New Jersey appeals court to go even further, holding that “rational development of the common law in light of . . . declared legislative policyf, i.e., to discourage under-age drinking by placing more responsibility on adults,] requires parents to arrange for proper supervision of their teenagers when they are away from the home for a period of time during which spontaneous parties featuring alcoholic beverages are reasonably foreseeable. In default of the exercise of due care, they must answer in damages caused to innocent persons. See Macleary v. Hines, 817 F.2d 1081 (3rd Cir. 1987); Mitseff v. Wheeler, 38 Ohio St. 3d 112, 526 N.E.2d 798 (1988); Koback v. Crook, 123 Wis.2d 259, 366 N.W.2d 857 (1985), and Congini v. Portersville Valve Co., 504 Pa. 157, 470 A.2d 515 (1983), all of which adopted the legislative standard of conduct relating to underage consumption of alcohol as applicable to tort liability. See Restatement, Torts, 2d § 286 at 25 (1965).” Morella v. Machu, 563 A2d 881, 884 (N.J. Super. A. D. 1989).
2. OCGA § 51-1-40 (b) provides, in pertinent part, that “a person who willfully, knowingly, and unlawfully sells, furnishes, or serves alcoholic beverages to a person who is not of lawful drinking age, knowing that such person will soon be driving a motor vehicle, . . . may become liable for injury or damage caused by or resulting from the intoxication of such minor . . . when the sale, furnishing, or serving is the proximate cause of such injury or damage.” In the case sub judice, the majority forecloses liability under this Code subsection because of undisputed evidence that Steedley did not drive his pickup truck upon leaving the party and because of Rowland’s self-serving testimony that Tina Dowling informed him that she would drive Steedley *590home.4 I cannot concur in this reasoning.
Decided December 3, 1992.
Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, Stephen L. Cotter, Lloyd B. Hedrick, Jr., for appellants.
The Keenan Ashman Firm, Don C. Keenan, David S. Bills, for appellees.
The majority’s conclusion is based upon its construction of the language, “knowing that such person will soon be driving a motor vehicle.” Specifically, the majority assumes that this statutory language requires proof or disproof of a person’s knowledge of a future event. It is highly unlikely that any person can predict the future with absolute certainty. It is my view, that a more realistic reading of the above statutory language is whether a reasonable person, under the same or similar circumstances, would reasonably expect that “such person will soon be driving a motor vehicle.” In other words, the question of knowledge does not relate to duty, but to proximate cause. Thus, it is my view that in breaching the statutory duty of care by serving alcohol to Steedley, Rowland is subject to liability if it was reasonably foreseeable that Steedley would soon be driving. See Sagadin v. Boal, 221 Cal. Rptr. 675, 685 (3rd. Dist. 1985).
“[T]he duty upon the provider of alcohol is not merely to prevent the intoxicated driver from driving. The duty arises earlier. It is to stop serving alcohol to the driver who is noticeably intoxicated (or share the intoxicated driver’s liability to injured third persons).” Sutter v. Hutchings, 254 Ga. 194, 197 (4) (327 SE2d 716). In the case sub judice, there is evidence that Rowland was aware that Steedley drove his truck to the party; that beer was made available to Steedley at the party, and that Steedley became drunk after drinking beer at the party. This evidence raises genuine issues of material fact as to whether a reasonable person, under the same or similar circumstances, should have known that Steedley would soon be driving a motor vehicle.

 The majority also states that the weekend of the fatal collision was “the first time [the Manuels] ever left 16-year-old appellant Scott Rowland at home alone.” However, Jay Smith, one of Rowland’s teenage friends, testified that the weekend of the fatal accident was not the first weekend Rowland’s parents left Rowland at home alone. Smith explained that he often spent the night at Rowland’s house and that “on occasion [the Manuels would leave the boys unsupervised and] go out of town for a Braves game or something another like that.”

 Rowland testified that his conviction was the result of an illegal search of the trunk of *588his automobile while he and another teenage boy were dining at a Burger King restaurant. Rowland’s natural father, John Harvey Rowland, testified that his son’s alcohol related conviction was not justified, explaining that the alcohol found in Rowland’s possession belonged to Rowland’s teenage companion.

 Jay Smith affirmed Rowland’s admission that he often consumed alcohol with his friends, testifying that Rowland’s natural father threw an “end of the school year . . .” party for Rowland before the July 1989 collision; that minors consumed alcohol at this party and that it was common for Rowland to participate in such beer drinking activities.

 Tina Dowling testified that she does not recall informing Rowland that she was going to drive Steedley home. On the contrary, she testified that it was her idea to drive and that “Scott Rowland [had nothing] to do with the fact that [she] drove[.]” In fact, Darby Hester’s deposition testimony reveals that Rowland did not walk Steedley, Hester and Dowling to Steedley’s truck after the beer party to insure Steedley’s safe passage home. She testified that “Scott Rowland come outside [to tell] us ‘bye.’ ”