Gonzales v. Krueger

799 P.2d 1318, 1990 Alas. LEXIS 117, 1990 WL 172667
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 12, 1990
DocketS-2903
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 799 P.2d 1318 (Gonzales v. Krueger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gonzales v. Krueger, 799 P.2d 1318, 1990 Alas. LEXIS 117, 1990 WL 172667 (Ala. 1990).

Opinions

[1319]*1319OPINION

MATTHEWS, Chief Justice.

This case involves a single-vehicle accident which occurred near Wasilla on August 3, 1986. Present in the vehicle at the time of the accident were Steven Krueger, Clifford M. Gagnon and David R. Gonzales. Gonzales suffered serious injuries. Shortly before the accident Gagnon, while visibly intoxicated, purchased schnapps at the Safeway liquor store in Wasilla.

Gonzales sued, among other defendants, Safeway for knowingly providing alcohol to an intoxicated person who was an occupant of a motor vehicle and who would foresee-ably make the alcohol available to others in the vehicle, including the driver. Safeway answered and, after considerable discovery, moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motion and dismissed all claims against Safeway. A partial final judgment was entered pursuant to Civil Rule 54(b). Gonzales appeals.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On appeal from a grant of summary judgment, we are constrained to take that view of the facts which is most favorable to the non-moving party. Carter v. Hoblit, 755 P.2d 1084, 1085 n. 1 (Alaska 1988). It is from this perspective that this statement of facts is made.

At about 5:20 p.m. Gagnon entered the Safeway liquor store, selected a quart bottle of schnapps and approached the checkout counter. The clerk, Ramona Van Cleve, was concerned that Gagnon was drunk and told him she would not sell the alcohol to him. Gagnon then said he wasn’t driving.

Van Cleve called her supervisor, Connie Schmidt, for advice. Schmidt asked Gag-non if he had been drinking. When he said yes, she said that she was not “allowed to sell liquor to anyone who had been drinking and let them go out and get in a car and drive away.” Gagnon repeated that he was not driving and added that his friend would drive. Schmidt then went outside the store as Krueger walked up. Krueger confirmed to Schmidt, and perhaps to Van Cleve, that Gagnon would not be driving. According to Schmidt, Krueger appeared to be sober. His speech and gait appeared normal and he did not have alcohol on his breath. Schmidt approved the sale of schnapps to Gagnon. Schmidt then watched Gagnon approach the passenger side of the vehicle and Krueger approach the driver side.

Inside the truck Gagnon opened the bottle and shared it with Krueger who was driving.1 The accident occurred at about 6:00 p.m.

Following the accident, Krueger was taken to the emergency room of Valley Hospital where he reported to a physician that he had six beers on the evening of the accident. A blood alcohol test was taken at 8:30 p.m. which showed that Krueger had a blood alcohol level of 0.16% at the time of the accident.2 The legal limit is 0.10%. AS 28.35.030(a)(2).

DISCUSSION

Under the dram shop statute, a person who provides alcoholic beverages to another person is immune from civil liability for damages caused by the intoxication of that person unless the provider is licensed to dispense such beverages and the person to whom the beverages are provided is a “drunken person.”3 A “drunken per[1320]*1320son” is a person whose conduct is substantially and visibly impaired as a result of alcohol ingestion.4

Safeway offers two related arguments as to why it cannot, as a matter of law, be civilly liable for Gonzales’ injuries. First, Safeway contends that even if Gagnon was visibly intoxicated when Safeway sold him the liquor, Safeway cannot be held liable because Krueger, the driver, was not visibly intoxicated and therefore was not a “drunken person”-under the statute. Second, Safeway argues that because it sold alcohol to the passenger rather than the driver of the vehicle, Gonzales’ injuries were not proximately caused by the transaction.

We reject both arguments. That Krueger may not have been a drunken person when Safeway sold liquor to Gag-non does not immunize Safeway from liability. Under AS 04.21.020, a licensed provider of alcoholic beverages is entitled to immunity from civil liability only if he does not sell to a drunken person. Safeway is thus not entitled to immunity on summary judgment in this case because it sold the liquor to Gagnon, who was a drunken person. The statute was given this construction in Williford v. L.J. Carr Investments, 783 P.2d 235, 239 (Alaska 1989), where we stated:

The intent of the legislature in enacting AS 04.21.020 was to limit vendor liability in cases where the vendor has provided alcohol in a statutorily permissible manner. We hold that AS 04.21.020 does not immunize vendors who violate AS 04.16.-030.

Regarding Safeway’s second argument, it cannot be said that as a matter of law the sale of liquor to Gagnon did not proximately cause the accident. Instead, this is a question for the jury. In Morris v. Farley Enterprises, Inc., 661 P.2d 167 (Alaska 1983), we held that a jury question as to proximate cause was presented in an analogous fact situation. In Morris, the defendant liquor store sold liquor to a minor who was a passenger in a vehicle. The minor evidently shared the liquor with the driver of the vehicle. Subsequently, the driver made an illegal turn and collided with another vehicle. We stated the elements of proximate cause:

[njegligent conduct may be found to be the “legal cause” of harm if the negligent act “was more likely than not a substantial factor in bringing about [the] injury”....
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Normally, in order to satisfy the substantial factor test it must be shown both that the accident would not have happened “but for” the defendant’s negligence and that the negligent act was so important in bringing about the injury that reasonable men would regard it as a cause and attach responsibility to it.

Id. at 169 (quoting State v. Abbott, 498 P.2d 712, 727 (Alaska 1972)). In concluding [1321]*1321that the facts presented a question of proximate cause for the jury, we stated:

It is clear that reasonable persons could conclude that the deaths would not have occurred but for the sale. But for the sale [the driver] would have had no liquor to drink. No evidence has been presented that liquor was acquired from another source. Since [his] blood alcohol level was measured at .134% approximately ninety minutes after the accident, a reasonable person could conclude that but for his consumption of alcohol he would not have made an illegal turn and collided with another automobile.
Reasonable persons could also conclude that the sale was so important in bringing about the deaths that they would regard it as a responsible cause. To meet this test, it is of course not necessary that the sale be the sole or even the predominant cause of the harm.

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Gonzales v. Krueger
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
799 P.2d 1318, 1990 Alas. LEXIS 117, 1990 WL 172667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gonzales-v-krueger-alaska-1990.