Court Opinion

ID: 9565197
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:16:40.948216+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:27.620391
License: Public Domain

BROWN, Justice,
dissenting.
In holding that McClellan v. Tottenhoff Wyo., 666 P.2d 408 (1983), has only prospective application, the majority bases its decision on language in the McClellan case, and the notion that vendors of liquor relied on Parsons v. Jow, Wyo., 480 P.2d 396 (1971) to insulate them from civil liability in the illegal sale of liquor. Neither of these reasons is valid. One is based on grammatical parsing; the other, even if true, is totally unjustified.
In McClellan, the court said:
“ ⅜ * * Henceforth, cases involving vendors of liquor and injured third parties will be approached in the same manner as other negligence cases.” Id., at 411.
This quotation is subject to more than one interpretation. The majority says it means that claims or causes of action which accrue after June 28, 1983, will be governed by the principles of McClellan, and that claims or causes of action which accrued before June 28, 1983, will be governed by prior law, that is, Parsons v. Jow, supra.
The quotation, however, could also be reasonably interpreted to mean that claims or causes of action not barred by the statute of limitations will “henceforth” be treated as other negligence cases. The result in McClellan did not mean that a cause of action against vendors of liquor could not accrue until after June 28, 1983.
The word “henceforth” is perhaps ambiguous in the context of the problem before this court. It should be treated as a neutral word. It would, perhaps, have been proper for this court to address the issue of retroactivity in McClellan, but it did not. Ordinarily the supreme court will not decide questions not requisite to adjudication. Reno Livestock Corporation v. Sun Oil Company, (Delaware), Wyo., 638 P.2d 147 (1981). If this court had intended to rule on retroactivity in the McClellan case, I assume .it would have done so in clear terms, and not by dropping a hint with the use of one word.
Other principles should therefore be employed to determine if McClellan v. Totten-hoff is to be applied prospectively only. There is no clear prohibition in McClellan against retrospective application nor is there a clear mandate requiring only prospective application. The general rule is that, in civil cases, decisions are to be applied retroactively.
The Tenth Circuit Court, sitting en banc, stated the rule thusly:
“The general rule, of course, is that retroactive effect is given to decisions overruling a prior holding. * * * ” Benedict Oil Company v. United States, 582 F.2d 544 (10th Cir.1978).
The court in Sunray Oil Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 147 F.2d 962, 963-964 (10th Cir.1945)), cert. denied. 325 U.S. 861, 65 S.Ct. 1201, 89 L.Ed. 1982 (1945), also stated the general rule:
“ * * * It is a general rule that the decision of the highest appellate court of a jurisdiction overruling a former decision is retrospective in its operation ⅜ * *.”
Other courts abide by this rule:
“In actions involving purely civil matters, the law of the state of Arizona has always been that unless otherwise stated, a court opinion operates retroactively as well as prospectively. [Citations.] There is, then, a presumption that opinions by appellate courts of this state are retroactive as well as prospective.” Chevron Chemical Company v. Superior Court, 131 Ariz. 431, 641 P.2d 1275, 1279-1280 (1982).
*555In Malan v. Lewis, Utah, 693 P.2d 661, 676 (1984), the court stated:
“The general rule from time immemorial is that the ruling of a court is deemed to state the true nature of the law both retrospectively and prospectively. In civil cases, at least, constitutional law neither requires nor prohibits retroactive operation of an overruling decision, [Citations] but in the vast majority of cases a decision is effective both prospectively and retrospectively, even an overruling decision. [Citations.] Whether the general rule should be departed from depends on whether a substantial injustice would otherwise occur. [Citation.]” (Emphasis added.)
See also, International Studio Apartment Association, Inc. v. Lockwood, Fla.App., 421 So.2d 1119 (1982); In re Kloppenberg’s Estate, 82 N.J.Super. 117, 196 A.2d 800 (1964); Marshall v. Marshall, Tenn., 670 S.W.2d 213 (1984).
These cases, of course, are not without exception:
“Although there is a traditional general rule in favor of giving retroactive effect to an overruling decision, it has become recognized that this rule is subject to various exceptions, for example, where there has been justifiable reliance on decisions which are subsequently overruled and those who have so relied may be substantially harmed if retroactive effect is given to the overruling decision * Annot., 10 A.L.R.3d 1384 (1966).
The case before us, however, is the weakest case imaginable for an exception from the general rule. How can vendors of alcoholic beverages seriously and in good conscience contend that they violated the liquor laws, relying on Parsons v. Jow to escape civil liability?
Brannigan v. Raybuck, 136 Ariz. 513, 667 P.2d 213 (1983), has elements of both the case before us and the McClellan case. In Brannigan, the surviving parents of minor passengers and the driver killed in an automobile accident brought a wrongful death action against tavern operators for negligently furnishing liquor to the decedents. The court en banc held, among other things, that where violation of a statute pertaining to furnishing liquor to those who are underage or who are already intoxicated is shown, negligence exists as a matter of law and the rule may be retroactively and prospectively applied. The court reasoned, citing Chevron Chemical Company v. Superior Court, 131 Ariz. 431, 641 P.2d 1275 (1979):
“In Chevron Chemical Co., supra, we applied the three-part test set out in Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97, 106-07, 92 S.Ct. 349, 355, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971), to determine if this presumption of retroactivity had been overcome and if a decision should apply only prospectively-
“ ‘That test suggests that in order for an opinion to have prospective application only, the opinion (1) must have established a new legal principle by either overruling clear and reliable precedent or by deciding an issue whose resolution was not foreshadowed; (2) must affect adversely the purpose behind the rule in question, and (3) must produce substantial inequitable results if applied retroactively.’ Chevron Chemical Co., supra.
“In applying the first factor of the test, we acknowledge that today’s decisions overrule clear precedent. We believe, however, that this result was certainly foreshadowed. There has been a continued assault upon the common law rule in a line of cases * * *. [T]he trend of authority in other states and the continued progression of dram shop cases through the Arizona courts certainly should have alerted all but the most complacent to the danger that the rule would eventually be changed and that they, like most others, would become civilly liable for violating the law.
“With respect to the second factor, we do not find that the change in the law adversely affects the underlying purpose for the law. Removing the rule of nonli-ability would probably have a neutral effect on tort principles, and could possi*556bly be viewed as furthering the underlying purpose of providing compensation for negligently inflicted injuries.
“Finally, we do not believe substantial inequitable results will be produced by retroactive application. Defendants, and all others in the liquor business, have never been entitled to rely upon the lack of civil liability. The acts for which defendants are now being subjected to civil liability have long been criminal. Defendants cannot complain, therefore, that they are being made to pay for conduct which, under prior law, was held proper. Further, and most important, is the question of relative fault. In those cases in which defendants have furnished liquor to minors or intoxicated persons, they have been guilty of a crime. Many of those who have been injured are blameless. * * * In the probable majority of cases, of course, the question comes simply to choosing between a defendant whose past conduct violated the law and a victim, relatively blameless, who has been injured or killed. Retrospective application favors the latter and prospective favors the former.” Brannigan v. Raybuck, supra, 667 P.2d at 220-221.
In Ostwald v. State, Wyo., 538 P.2d 1298 (1975), we approved a three-prong test to be employed in determining whether a decision should be prospective or retroactive. The test is (1) the purpose to be served by the new standards; (2) the extent of reliance on the old standards; and (3) the effect on the administration of justice of a retrospective application of the new standards. We also said that in determining whether a decision should be retrospective or prospective that “there is no distinction drawn between civil and criminal litigation.” Id., at 1303. The reasoning employed by the Arizona Supreme Court to justify its determination that its decision in Brannigan v. Raybuck, supra, should be retroactive is applicable in all respects to the case before us, and satisfies the three-prong test approved by this court in Ostwald.
The majority cites Nehring v. Russell, Wyo., 582 P.2d 67 (1978), and Oroz v. Board of County Commissioners of Carbon County, Wyo., 575 P.2d 1155 (1978), in support of its decision that McClellan should only apply prospectively. Those cases are not authority for the problem here, because they specifically provide for prospective application only.
In recent years, at least, when we have intended that a decision be given prospective application only, we have said so. In the Oroz case we ruled on the retroactivity of governmental immunity. In making our decision prospective only, we held:
“This Court is fully cognizant that a long reliance has been placed upon the rule of immunity in that it will raise certain problems which must be considered and proper arrangements made. Based upon these considerations, the doctrine of governmental immunity as it applies to counties and all.other similar governmental subdivisions is abolished as to any and all claims arising on and after July 1, 1979.” 575 P.2d at 1159.
Similarly, in the Nehring case, we abrogated the guest statute. In so doing, we specifically held:
“ * * * Further, cognizant that the determination is ours to make, we conclude that in consideration of all the factors and any prior reliances involved, our holding should be applied prospectively only, i.e., to this action and all causes of action accruing after 30 days following the date of this decision. [Citations.]” Nehring v. Russell, supra, 582 P.2d at 80.
In Washakie County School District No. One v. Herschler, Wyo., 606 P.2d 310, 340 (1980), when intending that our decision be given prospective application only, we made a specific finding that the “relief granted and direction of the court’s opinion * * * are prospective.”
In the McClellan case, no such specific finding was made. In Tottenhoff s motion for rehearing, she made a strong argument for only prospective application of the deci*557sion. After “careful consideration” of her motion, we denied same.
Both the majority and this dissent strive mightily albeit circuitously to arrive at divergent views. Both argue that logic, precedent, and justice support their position. Both avoid the real basis of how the decision was made or, from the dissent’s view, should have been made.
“ * * * [M]ost courts now treat the question of how an overruling decision should operate as one of judicial policy rather than of judicial power, and recognize that varying results may be reached, depending on the particular circumstances presented and the particular rule affected.” Annot., 10 A.L.R.3d 1378 (1966).
I would hold that McClellan should be applied retroactively as well as prospectively.