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Jarrett v. Woodward Bros.5/25/2000
c of the legal drinking age, and refuse to sell or serve liquor to anyone who fails to provide a valid identification document displaying proof of legal drinking age." See D.C. Code § 25-121.
In 1986, the Council raised the legal drinking age in the District to twenty-one years in response to federal financial incentives to jurisdictions that raised the minimum drinking age. See District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Act Legal Drinking Age Amendment Act of 1986, D.C. Law No. 6-178, 33 D.C. Reg. 7654 (1986). In its report to the Council, the Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs explained:
Congress, in recent years, has exerted tremendous pressure upon the states to limit the consumption of alcoholic beverages by persons under the age of 21. The drinking age was lowered in many states in the early 1970's, during a time when the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 and the war in Vietnam focused attention on the rights of young adults. Lately, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction and the result has been that 43 states have adopted a 21-year minimum drinking age - up from 23 states in 1984. This action reflects the nation's growing concern over the number of drivers under 21 who are involved in serious motor vehicle crashes after consuming alcohol. It is argued that persons under the age of 21 are inexperienced drivers and thus more likely than any other age group to have their driving significantly impaired by even small quantities of alcohol. Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Council of the District of Columbia, Report on Bill No. 6-508, the "District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Act Legal Drinking Age Amendment Act of 1986," 3 (1986).
The District of Columbia Municipal Regulations further implemented the prohibition against a license holder's permitting liquor consumption by underage patrons by requiring the licensee to "make a good faith effort to ascertain whether any person to whom he or she sells, delivers, or serves alcoholic beverages is of legal drinking age as provided by law." 23 DCMR § 903.13, 35 D.C. Reg. 5015 (1988). The regulations also provide that the licensee "shall not be liable solely because the person is not of the legal drinking age, unless the licensee . . . knew or should have known, based on the totality of the circumstances, that the person was not of legal drinking age." Id.
In November 1986, one month after the legal drinking age was raised to twenty-one years, the Council undertook a further revision of the ABC Act, see District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Act Reform Amendment Act of 1986, D.C. Law No. 6-217, 34 D.C. Reg. 907 (1987), making it clear that it was concerned not only with underage drunk drivers, but with public safety and health more generally:
Alcohol is a drug which is not only legal but also freely advertised as alluring. Yet it is a drug of abuse, with the capacity to cause intoxication and physical and psychological addiction. Used in moderation, alcohol may cause no harm; used to excess, it can and frequently does contribute to irresponsible actions, criminal misconduct, and serious and life-threatening physical disease. Thus, there is a clear public policy interest in establishing a more extensive regulatory scheme for the distribution of alcoholic beverages than for other goods and services. Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Council of the District of Columbia, Report on Bill No. 6-504, "District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Act Reform Amendment Act of 1986" 8 (1986) (emphasis added).
The Reform Amendments Act added new subsection (b-1) to § 25-121, which strengthened the law with respect to minors by prohib
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