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Hansen v. Friend2/20/1992
Fifteen-year-old Keith Hansen drowned in an alcohol-related incident. The petitioner, Hansen's mother, seeks review of the Court of Appeals opinion affirming the trial court's summary judgment dismissal of her wrongful death suit. In her suit, she alleges the respondents, two adult social hosts, negligently furnished liquor to her minor son, causing his intoxication and death. The Court of Appeals held that social hosts could not be held liable as a matter of law. We reverse the Court of Appeals and remand the case to the trial court.
On April 24, 1987, 15-year-old Keith Hansen and 21-year-old Robert Friend drank liquor at Friend's house in Kent, Washington. Hansen supplied the liquor from his parents' house. The two drank through the night and into the morning.
When 21-year-old Robert Petty arrived at Friend's house that morning, both Hansen and Friend were visibly intoxicated. Petty and Friend had planned to leave that day for Lake Jameson in Eastern Washington for an overnight fishing trip. When Petty arrived, he had with him two or three half-cases of beer. Friend asked Petty if Hansen could go on the fishing trip with them, and Petty agreed.
On the way to Lake Jameson, the three stopped at a store where Petty bought another 6-pack of beer. The three arrived at Lake Jameson around 6:30 p.m., set up camp and had dinner. Petty stated in his deposition that he and Friend had some beer at this time, but that Hansen did not. Friend's deposition indicates, however, that Hansen may also have consumed alcohol at this time. Clerk's Papers, at
64-65. Petty went to sleep around 9 p.m., after having two or three beers. By this time, Friend had consumed from two to four beers. Hansen's access to the beer does not appear to have been restricted in any way at the campsite.
Around 11 p.m., Hansen and Friend entered an adjacent campsite. Both were visibly and severely intoxicated. They stumbled back toward their own campsite around 11:30 p.m. Alan Petty, Robert's brother, arrived at the lake about this time. Shortly after Alan Petty's arrival at the campsite, Hansen left once again, stating he was going to another campsite to steal a beer.
Sometime afterward, the campers at the adjacent campsite heard a loud splash. They then heard something or someone splashing in the water, going up and down gasping for air. They ran to Hansen's campsite to get help. Alan Petty and one of the other campers got in a boat and searched the lake, but they found nothing. Hansen's body floated to the surface of Lake Jameson about 2 weeks later.
The petitioner contends Friend and Robert Petty negligently furnished liquor to her minor son. In order to prove actionable negligence, a plaintiff must establish: (1) the existence of a duty owed to the complaining party; (2) a breach of that duty; (3) a resulting injury ; and (4) that the claimed breach was the proximate cause of the injury. Pedroza v. Bryant, 101 Wash. 2d 226, 228, 677 P.2d 166 (1984). At issue here is whether Friend and Petty owed a duty of care to Hansen.
[2, 3] Whether a defendant owes a duty of care to the complaining party is a question of law. Pedroza, at 228. The standard of conduct required of a reasonable person may be prescribed by legislative enactment. Young v. Caravan Corp., 99 Wash. 2d 655, 659, 663 P.2d 834, 672 P.2d 1267 (1983) (citing W. Prosser, Torts ยง 36 (4th ed. 1971)). The petitioner argues RCW 66.44.270(1) provides the relevant duty of care in this case. This statute provides, in part, that:
It is unlawful for any person to
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