Court Opinion

ID: 9620957
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:49:52.840825+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:02.860171
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, dissenting. Sluder asks this court to recognize a cause of action against Bennigan’s for having served — not sold — him alcohol, causing him to be impaired and causing his one-vehicle accident and resulting injuries. Until 1999, this court had long recognized the rule that a licensed retailer who sells alcoholic beverages is not responsible for injuries to a patron or third party. See First American Bank of North Little Rock v. Associated Hosts, Inc., 292 Ark. 445, 730 S.W.2d 496 (1987), and Bolen v. Still, 123 Ark. 308, 185 S.W. 811 (1916). Our court modified this rule in Jackson v. Cadillac Cowboy, Inc., 337 Ark. 24, 986 S.W.2d 410 (1999), stating that vendors of alcohol can be held liable for negligence if they sell alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons who, in turn, cause injury to third persons. However, the Jackson case in no way touches on or changes our longstanding rule of law that a licensed retailer has no liability for injuries sustained by a patron who voluntarily gets intoxicated and subsequently sustains injuries in a one-vehicle accident as Sluder had here. Sluder attempts to include himself as an innocent “third party” under the Jackson holding, and he characterizes himself as a third party under the facts of this case by labeling the retailer, Bennigan’s, as the first party, Jon Beck as the party buying the alcohol, and Sluder as the “other person” allegedly injured as a result of Beck’s purchase of alcohohc drinks for Sluder and others attending his party. Sluder tries to buttress his argument by relying on Ark. Code Ann. § 16-126-104 (Supp. 2001), from the Dram-Shop Act, which reads in pertinent part as follows: In cases where it has been proven that an alcohohc beverage retailer knowingly sold alcohohc beverages to a person who was clearly intoxicated at the time of such sale or sold under circumstances where the retailer reasonably should have known the person was clearly intoxicated at the time of the sale, a civil jury may determine whether or not the sale constitutes a proximate cause of any subsequent injury to other persons. (Emphasis added.) Sluder reads § 16-126-104 to say he is the “other person” under the facts of this case because he was injured as a result of Beck’s being intoxicated and Beck’s purchasing the drinks that Sluder and “other persons” were served. Under present case law, a third party or other person does not include one who is injured as a result of his own intoxication. I cannot agree with Sluder’s argument or reading of the statute. His reading ignores cases like Bolen, supra, and Associated Hosts, Inc., supra, which plainly hold that a retailer has no liability for injury to a patron who bought drinks from a tavern owner and subsequently became intoxicated and was injured as a result. Section 16-126-104 contains no language that even suggests that a guest or person who voluntarily becomes intoxicated and impaired should be able to sue the retailer/vendor furnishing the alcohol. Neither Arkansas case law nor statutory law provides such a remedy to a person whose own unlawful acts caused the injuries he sustained. As noted above, Sluder argues he is the “other person” alluded to in § 16-126-104, but nothing in Arkansas law provides a cause of action for personal injury of a voluntary inebriant. Bennigan’s maintains that Arkansas law only protects innocent third persons injured by an inebriate, and an intoxicated inebriate behind the wheel of a motor vehicle can hardly be described as an innocent third party. I agree. Bennigan’s refutes Sluders’ interpretation that Sluder is protected as the “other person” under the Dram-Shop Act by pointing out that the General Assembly could have written “any person,” if it had intended to broaden the effect of the protection, but chose not to do so. In particular, § 16-126-106 specifically protects social hosts from civil liability resulting from personal injuries or property damages when an adult becomes inebriated as a guest. This is the only statute in the Dram-Shop Act in which the legislature specifically referred to “personal injury.” Clearly, the legislature was aware that personal injury could occur from excessive drinking and wanted to protect social hosts from such liability. I find it difficult to imagine that the General Assembly did not specifically omit a cause of action for adult inebriants who suffer from what amounts to a self-inflicted injury. Surely, the public policy of this state encourages personal responsibility and stewardship of one’s drink. Because § 16-126-104 does not specify that an alcohol beverage retailer is liable to a person who voluntarily gets drunk from alcohol served, not sold, to him, the person furnishing the alcohol under the statute is not liable as a matter of law for injuries that are self-inflicted. The majority court merely affirms dismissal of Sluder’s case because his complaint failed to pass muster under Rule 12(b) (6). In my view of this case, Sluder could rework the facts and allegations over and over, in an attempt to state a cause of action, but he will fail because Bennigan’s owes no legal duty to Sluder in these circumstances. Therefore, I agree that Sluder’s case should be dismissed, but I would do so with prejudice.