Court Opinion

ID: 9586362
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:09:54.265251+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:47.341639
License: Public Domain

Goolsby, Judge
(concurring):
I would also affirm the defense verdict, but only because the verdict is susceptible to the construction that the jury found the Ramada Hotel neither knew nor should have known Mr. Tobias was intoxicated when he allegedly purchased a single drink there. It is an elementary principle of appellate re*357view that when the general verdict of a jury is susceptible to two constructions, one that will uphold it and the other that will defeat it, the one that will allow the jury’s determination to stand is preferred. Inman v. Thompson, 297 S.C. 221, 375 S.E. (2d) 358 (Ct. App. 1988) (affirming a verdict for the plaintiff, holding even if the trial court erred in charging the doctrine of last clear chance, it could not be determined whether the jury could have found that the defendant had the last clear chance to avoid the accident or merely that the child was not contributorily negligent).
Were it not for the fact that the jury’s general verdict is susceptible to the construction that the jury found no negligence on the Ramada Hotel’s part, I would reverse the trial court’s decision to charge contributory negligence and assumption of risk and hold those defenses do not apply to private causes of action brought under S.C.Code Ann. §§ 61-5-30 and 61-9-410.
In considering passage of the statutes at issue, the South Carolina legislature clearly contemplated the fact that, in order to become intoxicated, a person ordinarily must first have voluntarily consumed alcohol. The legislature also must have recognized that a voluntary consumption of alcohol to the point of intoxication could also result from negligence. Nevertheless, our legislature enacted §§ 61-5-30 and 61-9-410, which impose liability upon tavern owners and vendors who sell such beverages to an intoxicated person.
This court in Christiansen v. Campbell, 285 S.C. 164, 328 S.E. (2d) 351 (Ct. App. 1985) held § 61-9-410 gave rise to a private cause of action and existed not only to protect injured innocent third parties, but also to protect intoxicated persons from their own incompetence and helplessness. Under this analysis, Mr. Tobias was a member of an intended statutorily protected class and he had the right to avail himself of the civil cause of action arising from the applicable code sections. By permitting the Tobiases’ claims to be barred because of Mr. Tobias’s alleged negligence or assumption of the risk, the legislature having already contemplated such conduct prior to enacting the statutes, the majority is permitting the complete abrogation of the public policy set forth and the relief afforded by these statutes. See Galvin v. Jennings, 289 F. (2d) 15, 19 (3rd Cir. 1961) (“When a statute sets up a standard in some in*358stances the court says that violation of the standard by a defendant resulting in injury to a plaintiff is not to be defended on the bases of the plaintiff’s contributory negligence. The theory is that the prohibition in the statute represents a device to protect an incompetent against the consequence of his incompetency.”); Vance v. United States, 355 F. Supp. 756 (D.C. Alaska 1973) (contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff was not a defense to a violation of the statute, which constituted negligence per se since the statute was intended to place the entire responsibility for resulting harm upon the violator because it was virtually impossible for the statute to be violated without contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff consumer); Aliulis v. Tunnel Hill Corp., 114 N.J. Super. 205, 275 A. (2d) 751 (App. Div. 1971), aff'd, 59 N.J. 508, 284 A. (2d) 180 (1971) (the bar of contributory negligence would not be available to a tavern owner in an action to recover for injuries sustained by a person in consequence of having been illegally served intoxicating liquor); Majors v. Brodhead Hotel, 416 Pa. 265, 205 A. (2d) 873 (1965) (if a defendant’s negligence constituted a violation of a statute enacted to protect a class of persons from their inability to exercise self-protective care, a member of such class is not barred by his contributory negligence from recovery for bodily harm caused by the violation of such statute; the fact that the plaintiff consciously reduced himself into a state of intoxication was immaterial since the statute in question was intended to protect persons when they are intoxicated regardless of where or how they may have become intoxicated); RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 483 cmt. c, at 539 (1965) (contributory negligence does not apply to statutes that are intended to place the entire responsibility for the harm that has occurred upon the defendant; a statute may be found to have that purpose particularly where it is enacted in order to protect a certain class of persons against their own ability to protect themselves). The majority allows the tavern owner to avoid its statutory responsibility not to serve intoxicated customers by simply accusing the patron of drinking too much.
I would also emphasize that the legislature’s decision that the tavern owner should bear the responsibility as between itself and the intoxicated patron for injuries arising out of violations of §§ 61-5-30 and 61-9-410 is not without logical appeal. *359While the customer is certainly not blameless, morally speaking, for ordering alcoholic beverages after reaching the point of intoxication, at the time the owner serves the beverages only the owner has the benefit of clear, sober judgment; only the owner is in the business of dealing with intoxication; and only the owner stands to benefit financially from a violation of the statute. I believe the majority’s decision in this case undercuts this court’s analysis in Christiansen and abrogates this State’s legislative intent and established public policy.