Snyder v. Viani11/30/1994
By the Court, Young, J.:
FACTS
On July 12, 1990, Daniel Patrick Lovett was twenty years and nine months old. At about 11:45 that night, he visited Joe's Tavern in Hawthorne, Nevada, and was served alcoholic beverages. Lovett remained at Joe's Tavern until approximately 1:15 a.m. on the morning of July 13, 1990, when he went to the El Capitan Hotel/Casino. Lovett stayed at the El Capitan until approximately 6:00 a.m., at which time he got into his vehicle and began driving to Sacramento, California. At approximately 6:30 a.m., Lovett crossed over the center line of Highway 95 north of Schurz, Nevada, and collided head-on with a motorhome. The motorhome's four occupants, along with Lovett, were killed. At the time of the accident, Lovett had a blood alcohol level of 0.187 percent. On March 30, 1992, Shauna Snyder, the special administrator of Lovett's estate, brought an action for negligence, malice and breach of contract against respondents. In her complaint, Snyder alleged that even though employees at Joe's Tavern knew that Lovett was not yet twenty-one years old and that he planned to drive to Sacramento, they negligently and maliciously served him alcoholic beverages. In addition, Snyder asserted that the Sheriff's Department acted negligently and with malice in implementing a policy that required deputies not to ask for the identification of patrons at Joe's Tavern. Finally, Snyder alleged that various signs at Joe's Tavern, stating
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that alcoholic beverages would not be served to underage patrons, established a contract between Joe's Tavern and the public. According to Snyder, by serving Lovett alcoholic beverages, Joe's Tavern breached its contractual duty to refuse to sell him such beverages. On August 27, 1992, pursuant to NRCP 12(b)(5), the district court entered an order granting respondents' motion to dismiss Snyder's action.
DISCUSSION
Snyder asserts that the district court erred in dismissing her action because it is distinguishable from prior Nevada cases. In particular, Snyder contends that her action involves the sale of alcohol to an underage drinker, not to an inebriated person, and injury to the drinker, not a third party. Snyder also argues that there is a direct nexus here between the sale of alcohol and the death of Lovett, and that this case is not based on the violation of any criminal statutes. In reviewing an order granting a motion to dismiss, this court must "determine whether or not the challenged pleading sets forth allegations sufficient to make out the elements of a right to relief." Edgar v. Wagner, 101 Nev. 226, 227, 699 P.2d 110, 111 (1985) (citations omitted). We conclude that Snyder's complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and that the district court properly granted respondents' motion to dismiss. The issue of tavern keeper liability for alcohol-related injuries was first addressed by this court in Hamm v. Carson City Nugget, Inc., 85 Nev. 99, 450 P.2d 358 (1969). In Hamm, we adopted the common law rule that consuming alcoholic beverages, and not furnishing them, is the proximate cause of third party alcohol-related injuries. In addition, we determined that a tavern keeper's violation of a criminal statute prohibiting the sale of alcohol to inebriated persons does not constitute negligence per se. Further, we concluded that if civil liability were imposed on tavern keepers, such liability would have to be established by "legislative act after appropriate surveys, hearings and investigations[.]" Id. at 101, 450 P.2d at 359. During the next thirteen years, we followed Hamm, to varying degrees, in five published opinions. See Yoscovitch v. Wasson, 9
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