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Rojas v. Engineered Plastic Designs3/13/2003
liable to any injured individual or his or her estate for any injury to such individual or damage to any property suffered because of the intoxication of any person due to the sale or service of any alcohol beverage to such person, except when [otherwise provided in this section].
(4)(a) No social host who furnishes any alcohol beverage is civilly liable to any injured individual or his or her estate for any injury to such individual or damage to any property suffered, including any action for wrongful death, because of the intoxication of any person due to the consumption of such alcohol beverages, except when [otherwise provided in this section].
The exceptions in the statute are not applicable here.
Before the enactment of § 12-47-801 (previously codified at § 12-47-128.5), the common law permitted negligence claims against alcohol beverage vendors. However, the supreme court had never extended this kind of negligence claim to social hosts. Since the enactment of § 12-47-801, "the liability of alcohol vendors and social hosts has been strictly a creature of statute in Colorado," and § 12-47-801 provides the exclusive remedy for the negligent provision of alcohol beverages by vendors or social hosts. Charlton v. Kimata, 815 P.2d 946, 948-49 (Colo. 1991).
Section 12-47-801(1), C.R.S. 2002, states that "in certain cases" the proximate cause of injuries inflicted by intoxicated persons is the consumption of alcohol beverages rather than the sale, service, or provision of such beverages "except as otherwise provided in this section." The legislative intent of § 12-47-801(1) is to shift the responsibility for drinking alcohol from the vendor or provider to the consumer of alcohol beverages. The "certain cases" are all cases except those where § 12-47-801(3) and (4), C.R.S. 2002, provide a cause of action. Sigman v. Seafood Ltd. Partnership I, 817 P.2d 527 (Colo. 1991). Thus, § 12-47-801(3) and (4) provide the only basis for a claim of negligently selling, serving, or providing alcohol beverages, because in all other cases it is the consumption of alcohol beverages that is the proximate cause of the injury caused by the intoxicated person.
Here, it is undisputed that EPD was not in the business of providing or selling alcohol beverages, was not licensed to sell alcohol beverages, and the employee did not purchase or pay for the beer provided by EPD. Therefore, EPD could not be liable as a licensee under the exceptions to § 12-47-801(3).
Further, plaintiffs do not contend that the employee was acting within the scope of his employment when he was drinking beer or while driving his car, and they make no claim based on the doctrine of respondeat superior. All of plaintiffs' claims, although premised on different legal theories, are based on injuries and damages allegedly suffered because EPD provided beer to the employee and his subsequent operation of his own vehicle while intoxicated. Hence, EPD could be liable, if at all, only as a social host under the exceptions to § 12-47-801(4), but those exceptions do not apply.
Plaintiffs argue that EPD and its employee did not have a social host-guest relationship because they had an employer-employee relationship. Thus, they assert that § 12-47-801(4) does not apply, and EPD can be liable for their damages if it negligently supervised the employee who became intoxicated on its premises on beer it furnished. We do not agree.
Section 12-47-801, which provides the only basis for a cause of action for furnishing alcohol beverages, does not provide a cause of action based on an employer-employee relationship.
We also note that other jurisdictions with statutory limi
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