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Sigman v. Seafood Limited Partnership I and Seafood Enterprises Inc.9/16/1991
The heirs of Curtis Sigman (plaintiffs) appeal the district court's dismissal of their wrongful death action based on its ruling that section 12-47-128.5, 5 C.R.S. (1990 Supp.), precluded the plaintiffs' claims and that the statute was constitutional. We affirm.
I.
On July 19, 1989, Curtis Sigman (Sigman) consumed an excessive amount of alcoholic beverages at a bar and restaurant in Denver, Colorado, known as Mostly Seafood. When the inebriated Sigman attempted to leave the restaurant, he fell down a flight of stairs, incurring head injuries that resulted in his death on July 25, 1989.
In May 1990, Sigman's heirs instituted a wrongful death action against the defendants, Seafood Limited Partnership I, the owner of Mostly Seafood, and its general partner, Seafood Enterprises, Inc. The plaintiffs asserted six causes of action based on negligent supervision, vicarious liability, negligence resulting in wrongful death, negligence per se, outrageous conduct, and entitlement to exemplary damages. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted pursuant to C.R.C.P. 12(b)(5), arguing that section 12-47-128.5(3)(b) barred the plaintiffs' claims. The district court granted the defendants' motion, concluding that the statute precluded the plaintiffs' claims and that, contrary to the plaintiffs' contention, the statute was constitutional.
II.
The plaintiffs argue that section 12-47-128.5 does not preclude their wrongful death action against the defendants. We disagree.
At common law, no remedy was provided against one who furnished alcoholic beverages to a person who became inebriated and consequently injured himself or another. See Lyons v. Nasby, 770 P.2d 1250, 1253 (Colo. 1989). This common law rule of nonliability was based on the theory that the consumption of alcoholic beverages, rather than the provision of it, was the proximate cause of the injury . See Largo Corp. v. Crespin, 727 P.2d 1098, 1103 (Colo. 1986); Note, Crespin v. Largo Corporation and the Legislative Response: The Turbulent State of Dram Shop Liability in Colorado, 57 U. Colo. L. Rev. 419, 422 (1986); Note, Dramshop Liability: Should the Intoxicated Person Recover for His Own Injuries? 48 Ohio St. L.J. 227, 228 (1987). Beginning in 1986, this court joined those jurisdictions that rejected the traditional common law rule and permitted negligence actions against vendors of alcoholic beverages. See Lyons v. Nasby, 770 P.2d 1250 (Colo. 1989); Largo Corp. v. Crespin, 727 P.2d 1098 (Colo. 1986); Floyd v. Bartley, 727 P.2d 1109 (Colo. 1986). Specifically, in Largo and Floyd this court allowed negligence actions against vendors of alcoholic beverages by third parties injured by intoxicated patrons, and in Lyons we permitted first-party negligence claims against tavern owners by intoxicated patrons who injured themselves, such as occurred in the present case. In Lyons, we advised, however, that our holding applied only to those cases accruing prior to the 1985 and 1986 statutory amendments which limited tavern owners' liability to their customers. See §§ 12-46-112(1)(b)(III), 12-47-128(5)(a)(IV), 5 C.R.S. (1985); §§ 12-46-112.5, 12-47-128.5, 5 C.R.S. (1990 Supp.).
With the passage of section 12-47-128.5 on May 3, 1986, the liability of vendors of alcoholic beverages and social hosts became strictly a creature of statute. Charl
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