Spivey v. Sellers

363 S.E.2d 856, 185 Ga. App. 241, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 2514
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 4, 1987
Docket75110
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 363 S.E.2d 856 (Spivey v. Sellers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spivey v. Sellers, 363 S.E.2d 856, 185 Ga. App. 241, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 2514 (Ga. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Sognier, Judge.

Kay Sellers, by next friend Francis Sellers, brought suit against Donald Spivey and his father seeking damages for injuries she incurred in an automobile accident. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Spivey’s father but denied the motion made by Donald Spivey. We granted his application for interlocutory appeal.

The record reveals that appellee, then a 15-year-old, was among a group of high school students, recent graduates and their friends who gathered around a bonfire on the beach at Skidaway Island to talk and consume alcoholic beverages, among other activities. Appellee and several others had accompanied appellant to the beach in a car owned by appellant’s father but under appellant’s exclusive control. Appellant, who was 21 at the time, had purchased whiskey and beer, *242 some of which he consumed during the bonfire party. Appellee alleged that appellant enticed and induced her to consume alcohol, “got her drunk,” and then induced and allowed her to drive his father’s automobile which appellee crashed, she alone sustaining certain injuries.

We note that this is not a case in which a parent seeks recovery in tort against one who, without the parent’s consent, furnished alcoholic beverages to his or her minor child. OCGA § 51-1-18 (a); see also Stepperson, Inc. v. Long, 256 Ga. 838, 840 (1) (353 SE2d 461) (1987). Neither is this an instance in which alcoholic beverages were unknowingly consumed by the minor with physical harm resulting from the consumption itself, thereby placing a right in the infant to recover damages for physical injuries inflicted upon his person. Compare Dodd v. Slater, 101 Ga. App. 362, 366 (114 SE2d 170) (1960) (22-month-old infant injured when given vodka mixed in tomato juice). Rather, this case seems to fall directly in the category of situations addressed by the Supreme Court in footnote 7 of Sutter v. Hutchings, 254 Ga. 194, 198 (327 SE2d 716) (1985), in which it was explained “why providing alcohol to a noticeably intoxicated [minor] automobile driver does not make the provider liable for injuries to the [minor] consumer. [Cits.] Although the provider owes a duty not to provide alcohol to a driver who is noticeably intoxicated, the driver also owes a duty to exercise ordinary care for his own safety. [Cits.] As between provider and consumer, the consumer has the last opportunity to avoid the effect of the alcohol, by not drinking or not driving, and thus as between the two, the negligence of the consumer is the greater. Hence, notwithstanding the fact that the provider as well as the consumer should foresee the possibility of injury to the consumer, the consumer cannot recover for his injuries from the provider. [Cit.]”

Appellee would have this court distinguish this case from Sutter on the basis that appellant did not “provide” alcohol for appellee to consume but instead “induced” or “enticed” appellee to consume alcohol. Webster’s New International Dictionary (2d ed.) defines “induce” as “[t]o lead on; to influence; to prevail on; to move by persuasion or influence. . . .” The word “entice” is defined therein as “[t]o incite or instigate. (2) To draw on by exciting hope or desire; to allure; attract. . . . Often, in a bad sense, to lead astray; to induce to evil; to tempt.” Thus, appellee does not assert she was not “provided” alcohol but rather asserts that she consumed the alcohol provided by appellant only because he influenced or tempted her into doing so.

While we recognize that negative influence exerted on young people by their peers can unfortunately pressure them into taking illegal actions, this does not negate the fact that a person who has attained the age of 13 years is responsible for both his crimes and his torts. See OCGA §§ 16-3-1; 51-11-6; see also Green v. Gaydon, 174 Ga. App. 796, 798 (2) (331 SE2d 106) (1985). There is no allegation or evidence *243 in the record that appellee involuntarily or unknowingly consumed alcohol, compare Dodd, supra, or that her consumption thereof was the result of coercion or intimidation so as to negate the presumption of capacity, through which she is chargeable with the same measure of caution as is an adult. See Central R. Co. v. Phillips, 91 Ga. 526, 529 (17 SE 952) (1893). Thus, the evidence shows that appellee, a mentally responsible person of 15 years, consumed alcoholic beverages at a time when it was illegal for any person under the age of 19 to purchase or knowingly possess any alcoholic beverage, with the exception of certain situations not applicable here. OCGA § 3-3-23 (a) (2). Under the rationale of Sutter, supra, no distinction may be drawn between alcoholic beverages knowingly possessed by a minor who was provided (or sold, supplied or furnished) those beverages and alcoholic beverages knowingly possessed by a minor who was enticed or induced into consuming those beverages since in both instances the consumer had “the last opportunity to avoid the effect of the alcohol, by not drinking. . . .” Id. Therefore, the trial court erred by holding that Sutter, supra, was not applicable to the case sub judice.

Appellee also argues that the trial court correctly denied summary judgment to appellant because appellant is liable to her for inducing and allowing her to drive his automobile knowing that she was unlicensed, in violation of OCGA § 40-5-122. The evidence is unrebutted that appellee had misrepresented to appellant that she had a valid instruction permit, or “learner’s license,” OCGA § 40-5-24 (a), and that appellant allowed her to drive on the basis of that misrepresentation. Thus, even had appellant “induced” appellee to drive, as she alleges, the evidence is uncontroverted that appellant was inducing one whom he had mistakenly been led to believe was properly licensed. However, we note that appellant stated in his deposition that he sat in the rear seat of his automobile while Tammy St. Lawrence, another participant at the bonfire party, sat in the front seat beside appellee. The record fails to reflect affirmatively that St. Lawrence, as the one occupying the seat beside the driver, was at least 18 years of age, was licensed as a driver for a Class 1 vehicle such as appellant’s and was fit and capable of exercising control over the vehicle, as required by OCGA § 40-5-24 (a), thereby entitling appellee, a learner, to drive appellant’s car upon a public highway. Thus, construing the evidence as we must in favor of appellee as the non-movant, see generally Progressive Ins. Co. v. Kelly, 181 Ga. App. 181 (351 SE2d 544) (1986), it appears appellant may have acted in violation of OCGA § 40-5-122

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Bluebook (online)
363 S.E.2d 856, 185 Ga. App. 241, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 2514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spivey-v-sellers-gactapp-1987.