concluding that allegations that fraternity planned and conducted party, invited guests — including minors — and caused alcoholic beverages to be served or made available to party guests, if proved, were sufficient to hold fraternity liable for harm caused by intoxicated minor who consumed alcohol at the party
How later courts described this case
- concluding that allegations that fraternity planned and conducted party, invited guests — including minors — and caused alcoholic beverages to be served or made available to party guests, if proved, were sufficient to hold fraternity liable for harm caused by intoxicated minor who consumed alcohol at the party
- holding that an Oregon statute similar to RCW 66.44.270 was designed to protect minors from drinking alcoholic beverages, not to protect third persons from injuries resulting from the conduct of inebriated minors
- “We think that the design of ORS 471.410(2) [a statute that prohibited persons other than parents or guardians from providing alcoholic beverages to any person under the age of 21] was to protect minors from the vice of drinking alcoholic beverages; it was not the purpose of the statute to protect third persons from injury resulting from the conduct of inebriated minors * * *.”
- permitting social host liability against parties who had reason to know the people alcohol was served to might do unreasonable things
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
McALLISTER, J.,
concurring in part; dissenting in part.
The majority, having adopted the rule that one who negligently furnishes alcohol to others may be liable for the consequences, then limits the scope of that liability by drawing a line which, in my opinion, is arbitrary and untenable.
I agree that the complaint states a cause of action against the fraternity. It alleges that the fraternity furnished alcohol to Blair, knowing that he was a minor and that he would be driving after the party. Proof of these allegations would justify a jury in finding that the fraternity, through its agents, acted unreasonably when it permitted Blair to drink. The allegations as to the other defendants, in my view, can not be distinguished on any logical basis. The complaint alleges that they knew that minors would be attending the party and would be allowed to drink, and that some of them would be driving back to Eugene. *645 Knowing this, Kienow furnished the alcohol which was served to Blair, and the owners and operators of the Ranch furnished the premises where it was served. If the fraternity could foresee the danger created by its activities, so could the other defendants. Their actions, as much as those of the fraternity’s other agents, contributed to plaintiff’s injuries.
The majority does not hold that the allegations do not charge unreasonable behavior on the part of all defendants. Rather, it holds that the well-established rules of negligence will simply not be applied in this situation except to a defendant who has directly served alcohol to a particular minor. I cannot agree with this approach. We have held that, even in the absence of concerted action, two or more persons whose negligence combines to produce a single injury are joint tortfeasors, and any or all may be held liable by the injured party. See Hills v. McGillvrey, 240 Or 476, 483 , 402 P2d 722 (1965) and cases there cited; Murray v. Helfrich, 146 Or 602, 605-607 , 30 P2d 1053 (1934). In my opinion, plaintiff has adequately charged negligence on the part of Kienow and of the owners and operators of the Ranch which combined with the negligence of the fraternity’s agents at the party to cause plaintiff’s injuries. Their demurrers ought to have been overruled.