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Daniels v. Carpenter1/28/2003
tes forbidding the sale of alcohol to minors were meant not only to protect minors, but also to protect the general public, and that violation of such statutes is evidence of negligence. Id. at 413.
[ ] The primary holding of McClellan was legislatively abrogated in 1985 with passage of a statute specifically limiting the liability of alcohol providers. 1985 Wyo. Sess. Laws ch. 205, § 1. The statute was modified in 1986. 1986 Wyo. Sess. Laws ch. 6, § 1. In pertinent part, it provides that "[n]o person who has legally provided alcoholic liquor or malt beverage to any other person is liable for damages caused by the intoxication of the other person." Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 12-8-301 (LexisNexis 2001). The clear intent of the act is to immunize both vendors and social hosts from liability for damages caused by persons to whom alcohol has legally been provided. In that regard, it is not legal for a person to provide alcohol to a minor who is not his "legal ward, medical patient or member of his own immediate family . . .." Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 12-6-101(a) (Lexis 1999).
[ ] In the context of the present case, the effect of this statute is to allow the appellant to pursue a cause of action against the appellees if it can be shown that they provided alcohol to the teenaged boys. So, without the statute, there is certainly no legislative bar to such an action. The question remains, however, where there is no allegation that the appellees, themselves, provided the alcohol, what facts might sustain a cause of action against them? In other words, under what circumstances should the appellees be seen to have had a duty to protect the appellant ?
[ ] Broadly speaking, "[a] duty may arise by contract, statute, common law, or when the relationship of the parties is such that the law imposes an obligation on the defendant to act reasonably for the protection of the plaintiff." Hamilton v. Natrona County Educ. Ass'n, 901 P.2d 381, 384 (Wyo. 1995). One such relationship is the parent/child relationship. In Sare v. Stetz, 67 Wyo. 55, 214 P.2d 486, 487 (1950), we rejected the family purpose doctrine, under which a parent, as owner of a car, may be held liable for the negligence of a child who drives the car. In doing so, we held that "'[a] parent is not liable for the tort of his minor child merely from the relationship.'" Id. at 488 (quoting Arkin v. Page, 287 Ill. 420, 123 N.E. 30, 31 (1919)). We reached a similar conclusion in Kimble v. Muller, 417 P.2d 178, 180 (Wyo. 1966), where we said:
For us to hold the father in this instance liable for his son's negligence, because the father permitted the son to use the car, would be equivalent to holding that every parent is liable for every tort of a child. See also Hatch v. O'Neill, 133 Ga.App. 624, 212 S.E.2d 11, 13 (1974) ("[a] mother is not negligent in simply failing to keep a constant and unremitting watch and restraint over her children") and Paige v. Bing Const. Co., 61 Mich.App. 480, 233 N.W.2d 46, 49 (1975) ("impossibility of a parent knowing what a child is doing at all times--despite utmost vigilance").
[ ] Clearly, the parental relationship, without more, is not sufficient to make a parent liable in tort for the conduct of his or her child. That is analogous to the principle that a social host, even when acting in loco parentis, is not necessarily liable in tort for the conduct of his or her minor social guests. The question that must be answered is this-- what is the "something more" that must exist in circumstances such as those in the instant case before a duty arises on the part of a social host to protect third parties from harm caused by an intoxicated minor guest? Some courts have said the answer lies in the host's knowledge of the mi
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