Hatten ex rel. Hatten v. Consolidated Rail Corp.

860 F. Supp. 1252, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12398, 1994 WL 460541
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 4, 1994
DocketNo. 1:93-CV-748
StatusPublished

This text of 860 F. Supp. 1252 (Hatten ex rel. Hatten v. Consolidated Rail Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hatten ex rel. Hatten v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 860 F. Supp. 1252, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12398, 1994 WL 460541 (W.D. Mich. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

QUIST, District Judge.

On December 12,1992, Mid Wilbur Hattan was injured when he lost control of his pickup truck. Linda Hattan, Next Friend of Mid Wilbur Hattan, filed this action against defendant Consolidated Rail Corporation and Conrail (Conrail) seeking damages for Hat-tan’s injuries. The complaint alleges that Conrail negligently placed, designed and maintained its railroad tracks thereby causing Hattan’s injuries. Conrail filed a third-party complaint against Harold W. Cosby and Ellen L. Cosby, d/b/a Watson Corners Stop-N-Shop (Stop-N-Shop) seeking indemnity and/or contribution. Conrail’s third party complaint states that Stop-N-Shop provided alcohol to Mid Wilbur Hattan even though he was a minor.

Third-Party Defendants did breach said duty and did provide Plaintiff with alcoholic beverages to wit: beer, to the extent that the Plaintiffs incapacitated person became intoxicated, drove his vehicle at an excessive rate of speed over and past Third-Party Plaintiffs’ railroad tracks. As a result, Mid Wilbur Hatten lost control of the vehicle and suffered a severe closed head injury. All of which was the direct and proximate result of Third-Party Defendants providing the Plaintiffs incapacitated person with the alcohol.

Third-Party Complaint at ¶8.

Conrail’s third-party complaint requests Stop-N-Shop pay any and all sums Conrail may expend in compensating Hattan including costs, interest and attorney fees. This matter is before the Court on Stop-N-Shop’s motion for summary judgment and Rule 11 sanctions.

Legal Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. The rule requires that the disputed facts be material. Material facts are facts which are defined by substantive law and are necessary to apply the law. A dispute over trivial facts which are not necessary in order to apply the substantive law does not prevent the granting of a motion for summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The rule also requires the dispute to be genuine. A dispute is genuine if a reasonable jury could return judgment for the nonmoving party. Id. This standard requires the non-moving party to present more than a scintilla of evidence to defeat the motion. The summary judgment standard mirrors the standard for a directed verdict. The only difference between the two is procedural. Summary judgment is made based on documentary evidence before trial, and directed verdict is made based on evidence submitted at trial. 477 U.S. at 250-51, 106 S.Ct. at 2511.

A moving party who does not have the burden of proof at trial may properly support a motion for summary judgment by showing the court that there is no evidence to support the non-moving party’s case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324-25, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553-54, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). If the motion is so supported, the party opposing the motion must then demonstrate with “concrete evidence” that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Id.; Frank v. D'Ambrosi 4 F.3d 1378, 1384 (6th Cir.1993). The court must draw all inferences in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, but the court may grant summary judgment when “the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party.” Agristor Financial Corp. v. Van Sickle, 967 F.2d 233, 236 (6th Cir.1992) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 [1255]*1255U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)).

Legal Analysis

Stop-N-Shop claims that it is entitled to summary judgment because Conrail’s claim is barred by the Michigan Dram Shop Act. The Dram Shop Act, M.C.L.A. § 436.22(4); M.S.A. § 18.993(4), was amended in 1986. Subsection 4 of the revised Act sets forth who may bring a cause of action:

(4) Except as otherwise provided in this section, an individual who suffers damage or is personally injured by a minor or visibly intoxicated person by reason of the unlawful selling, giving, or furnishing of alcoholic liquor to the minor or visibly intoxicated person, if the unlawful sale is proven to be a proximate cause of the damage, injury, or death, or the spouse, child, parent, or guardian of that individual, shall have a right of action in his or her name against the person who by selling, giving, or furnishing the alcoholic liquor has caused or contributed to the intoxication of the person or who has caused or contributed to the damage, injury, or death. In an action pursuant to this section, the plaintiff shall have the right to recover actual damages in a sum of not less than $50.00 in each case in which the court or jury determines that intoxication was a proximate cause of the damage, injury, or death.

In LaGuire v. Kain, 440 Mich. 367, 487 N.W.2d 389 (1992), the Michigan Supreme Court held that neither an imbibing minor nor that minor’s estate has a cause of action under the Dram Shop Act. Id. at 377, 487 N.W.2d at 393. In LaGuire, Michael Mihailuk, a seventeen year old, purchased alcohol from the defendant’s night club. After leaving the bar, he drove his car across the center line and collided head-on with another vehicle, killing himself and injuring the other driver, Lisa Lord. Ms. Lord sued the personal representative of the decedent’s estate and his parents. The defendants filed cross-claims against the liquor licensee alleging that the bar had wrongfully served alcohol to the decedent. The Michigan Supreme Court held that:

[Bjecause an intoxicated minor is not an ‘individual’ who ‘suffers damage or is personally injured by a minor or visibly intoxicated person ...,’ MCL 436.22(4); MSA 18.993(4), neither the minor nor his estate has a cause of action under the act.

Id. at 378, 487 N.W.2d at 394.

Stop-N-Shop argues that Conrail’s claim for indemnity and/or contribution is barred by LaGuire. Clearly, Hatten has no cause of action against Stop-N-Shop under the Dram Shop Act. Stop-N-Shop insists that Conrail is also barred from pursuing a claim against it. Stop-N-Shop contends that it did not breach a “duty” imposed under the Act. Furthermore, there was no proximate causation under the Act between any of Stop-N-Shop’s alleged acts and Hatten’s injuries.

Stop-N-Shop insists that the Dram Shop Act is the exclusive remedy for damages arising out of its sale of alcohol to Mr. Hat-ten. Indeed, the Dram Shop Act specifically provides:

This section provides the exclusive remedy for money damages against a licensee arising out of the selling, giving, or furnishing of alcoholic liquor.

M.C.L.A. § 436.22(11); M.S.A. § 18.993(11). According to Stop-N-Shop, the Act does not include as plaintiffs corporations whose property was not damaged by the intoxicated person.

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Related

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Paul v. Bogle
484 N.W.2d 728 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1992)
Beck v. Westphal
366 N.W.2d 217 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1984)
LaGuire v. Kain
487 N.W.2d 389 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1992)
Agristor Financial Corp. v. Van Sickle
967 F.2d 233 (Sixth Circuit, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
860 F. Supp. 1252, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12398, 1994 WL 460541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hatten-ex-rel-hatten-v-consolidated-rail-corp-miwd-1994.