Court Opinion

ID: 9789844
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:42:44.308476+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:24.638058
License: Public Domain

ZIMMERMAN, Chief Justice,
concurring:
I concur in the opinion of Justice Howe for the simple reason that the legislation in question cannot fairly be read to reach a different result. However, in light of the potentially draconian result for private citizens who choose to serve social guests alcoholic beverages other than beer, and the high level of moral outrage publicly expressed about drunken drivers and the carnage they cause, I feel compelled to note the absurd distinctions contained in our dramshop act. These distinctions suggest a strong measure of hypocrisy in the state’s policy toward those furnishing alcohol to others.
As the majority notes, “liquor” is defined as beverages that contain higher than four percent alcohol. Under this definition, “liquor” includes wine, distilled spirits, and so-called “heavy beer” sold only in state liquor *523stores. On the premise that the stronger beverages are more dangerous than the weaker, the dramshop act makes any provider of “liquor” liable without limitation for harm done by those who consume it, regardless of whether it is sold or given and regardless of the place where it is provided or consumed. But our statute is carefully crafted to make it plain that this severe liability does not attach to those who give, or even sell, beer that is not consumed on the premises, such as beer that is purchased in gas stations and convenience stores for consumption elsewhere. Yet if we were to look at the actual actions of those who consume alcohol and are involved in automobile accidents, rather than relying on some simplistic notion of “higher alcoholic contents equals more danger,” we would have to acknowledge that excessive beer consumption is almost certainly involved in a majority of alcohol-related' automobile accidents, not excessive consumption of “liquor.”
While the citizens of this state consumed roughly one and a half gallons of “liquor” (two-thirds of a gallon of spirits, two-thirds of a gallon of wine, and one-tenth of a gallon of heavy beer) per person in 1995,1 they consumed just over twelve gallons of beer for every man, woman, and child resident in Utah in 1995.2 Given this enormous disparity, it is not unreasonable to assume that beer is involved in more alcohol-related automobile accidents than are heavy beer, spirits, and wine.3 In fact, roadside surveys of 753 people conducted in May and June of 1977 revealed that fully 76 percent of the legally drunk drivers surveyed (blood alcohol content over .08 percent) were beer drinkers, while only 8.1 percent preferred spirits and 2.9 percent preferred wine. Of the eight factors studied, “[t]he single most important variable differentiating [between nondrinking and] drinking drivers was whether or not a person was a beer drinker.”4 Yet those who sell this beer for profit are not liable under the dramshop act, while a social host who gives wine to a guest is.
Why this irrational distinction, one that plainly undermines the declared purposes of the dramshop act? I suspect that this distinction can be explained by the fact that those who sell beer and vastly profit from those sales have a much stronger lobby than those social hosts who may provide their guests with wine in their homes or elsewhere. It seems that a more coherent social policy, one less subject to the charge of hypocrisy, would apply the dramshop sanctions equally to all alcoholic beverages rather than discriminating in favor of the providers of the only form of alcohol that the state of Utah permits to be sold in packaged form for profit by private interests.
Justice RUSSON concurs in the concurring opinion of Chief Justice ZIMMERMAN.
Having disqualified himself, Associate Chief Justice STEWART does not participate herein; District Judge FRANK G. NOEL sat.

. See Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Summary of Operations, July 1, 1995, to June 30, 1996, tbl. (showing 2,997,220 gallons of liquor sold in Utah and 1,959,000 population).

. See Beer Institute, Brewer's Almanac Annual Report 1995 (showing 24,151,139 gallons of beer imported into Utah in 1995).

. We note that 1.5 ounces of spirits or 3 ounces of wine are roughly equal to 12 ounces of beer for the purposes of blood alcohol content. Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Summary of Operations, July 1, 1995, to June 30, 1996, tbl. ("Know Your Limit”). Calculating based on the total of all alcoholic beverages consumed in Utah, the ratio of alcohol consumed in the form of beer compared to that consumed as wine is roughly 4.6 to 1, and compared to spirits is 1.5 to 1. See id. ((12.33 gal. beer/(.669 gal. wine * 4) = 4.6) and (12.33 gal. beer/(.697 gal. spirits * 8) = 1.5)). Thus, even considering the lower alcohol content of beer, it is still the case that beer is responsible for more alcohol consumed in Utah than are spirits or wine.

.See Utah Alcohol Safety Action Project, Roadside Survey 8 (June 1977) (available from Utah Highway Safety Office).