Coulter v. Swearingen

447 N.E.2d 561, 113 Ill. App. 3d 650, 69 Ill. Dec. 344, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 1638
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 25, 1983
Docket82-440
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 447 N.E.2d 561 (Coulter v. Swearingen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coulter v. Swearingen, 447 N.E.2d 561, 113 Ill. App. 3d 650, 69 Ill. Dec. 344, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 1638 (Ill. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

JUSTICE SCOTT

delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal stems from a judgment dismissing certain counts of the plaintiffs’ (the Coulters) complaint which sought to impose liability for common law negligence upon the defendants (the Swearingens) resulting from the permitting of the availability and consumption of intoxicating liquor by a minor while a guest in the home of the defendants and who thereafter drove a motor vehicle into a vehicle operated by the plaintiff, Charles Coulter.

Specifically, Charles Coulter, in count XI of his complaint, alleged that John Swearingen, a minor, gave liquor to Ricky Louck, a minor, who while intoxicated operated his motor vehicle in such a manner as to cause it to collide with Charles Coulter’s tractor, which caused injury. The plaintiff Geri Coulter, wife of Charles, in count XII sought damages for loss of consortium. Charles Coulter in count XIII alleged that the intoxicating liquors given by John Swearingen to Ricky Louck were negligently stored by Vernon and Phyllis Swearingen, parents of John, so that they were accessible. In count XIV Geri Coulter sought damages against Vernon and Phyllis Swearingen for loss of consortium.

The foregoing counts were the target of a motion to dismiss on the grounds that there is no common law negligence action against anyone who supplies intoxicating liquor to another and any cause of action for injuries resulting from a sale or gift of intoxicating liquors is limited to those who are liable under the Dramshop Act. The circuit court of Mercer County agreed with the defendants, thereby granting the motion, and judgment was entered dismissing the complaint as to the defendant Swearingen.

The issue presented in this appeal, reduced to its simplest form, is whether the trial court was correct in holding that John Swearingen, a minor who permitted another minor to drink intoxicating liquor in the Swearingen home, and Vernon and Phyllis Swearingen, parents who permitted accessibility to the liquor in their home, are guilty of common law negligence.

Counsel for plaintiffs presented a strong argument as to why by judicial interpretation this court should hold that section 14 of article VI of the Dramshop Act (111. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 43, par. 135) should not preempt the field of liability related to alcohol and that there should be a common law negligence cause of action against social hosts who gave alcoholic beverages to minor and because of the resulting intoxication by the minor, injuries or death occur. The plaintiffs in support of their argument make an analogy to the supplying of alcoholic liquor with the furnishing of firearms, morphine or glue to a minor and where recovery was permitted against the supplier for furnishing the latter items. The plaintiffs cite cases from foreign jurisdictions where defendants were held liable for providing alcoholic beverages to a minor who in a state of intoxication harmed third parties. The plaintiffs further attempt to equate the supplying of liquor to a minor which causes injuries to the attractive nuisance doctrine where a landlord can be held liable for injuries to a minor because of harm resulting from defects or dangerous conditions upon his property. The plaintiffs further remind this court, as other courts have been reminded, that our State constitution provides that there shall be a legal remedy to every person for injuries and wrongs he receives to his person, property, privacy and reputation. See Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, sec. 12.

The issue presented in this appeal and the arguments presented by the plaintiffs are not new to the supreme court and appellate courts of this State. These courts have consistently held that a social host is not liable under common law negligence for injuries sustained by a third party. Our courts have adhered to this position and make no distinction as to whether the intoxicated individual is a corporate defendant, a strong and able-bodied man, or a minor. Our legislature enacted in 1872 what was called the Temperance Bill, the ancestor of our present Dramshop Act. Substantial changes were made in 1874, and throughout the years the Act has been amended a number of times, however, our courts have throughout its history consistently held that it confers the only civil remedies available for injuries and harm resulting from intoxication. Reliance upon section 12 of our constitution has been raised by other parties situated similarly to the plaintiffs in the instant case. Relief sought by such parties by relying upon section 12 has been unavailing in that it has been held “that section 12, like its predecessor section 19 of article II of the 1870 Illinois Constitution, is ‘an expression of a philosophy and not a mandate that a “certain remedy” be provided in any specific form ***.’ (Sullivan v. Midlothian Park District (1972), 51 Ill. 2d 274, 277, 281 N.E.2d 659, 662.)” See Berlin v. Nathan (1978), 64 Ill. App. 3d 940, 950, 381 N.E.2d 1367, 1374.

The landmark case of Cunningham, v. Brown (1961), 22 Ill. 2d 23, 174 N.E.2d 153, provides an in-depth informative history of the Dram-shop Act and the remedies provided therein. In Cunningham, a widow attempted to recover damages against tavern operators when her husband took his own life because of despondency resulting from intoxication. She predicated her suit on the theory of common law negligence. Our supreme court held that there was no common law remedy against the defendants for sale of liquor to intoxicated persons and that the only remedy provided was to be found in the Liquor Control Act (Dramshop Act) and that such remedy was exclusive. Cunningham concluded that there was never a common law action for negligence against the purveyors of intoxicating liquor and in enacting what we now call the Dramshop Act the legislature intended to provide a remedy where it believed none existed. The plaintiffs quarrel with Cunningham’s conclusion by asserting that the court was misled by the lack of precedent for a common law remedy when the Temperance Bill of 1872 was enacted. It is plaintiffs’ theory that in 1872 the legislature could not have intended to abrogate a remedy it did not know about. If we accept the argument of the plaintiffs we must further accept the fact that in 1872 and prior thereto there was a nebulous, unused, and in fact, an unknown, unformulated common law remedy where recovery could be had from a supplier of alcoholic liquor for damages inflicted by an intoxicated person or resulting from the intoxication. The history of the temperance movement as set forth in Cunningham belies the fact that any remedy was available prior to the enacting of the Temperance Bill of 1872. No cases can be cited which show that a common law remedy was invoked. The plaintiffs in Cunningham conceded that the common law provided no remedy for the sale of alcoholic liquor to the ordinary man on the theory it was a direct wrong or on the theory that it was negligence, which provided a legal liability on the seller for damages resulting from intoxication. The enactment of the Temperance Bill of 1872 was the result of the fervor of the temperance reform movement conducted in our State combatting the evils of liquor, the dispensation of which had been unregulated for more than half of a century.

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Bluebook (online)
447 N.E.2d 561, 113 Ill. App. 3d 650, 69 Ill. Dec. 344, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 1638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coulter-v-swearingen-illappct-1983.