Ennabe v. Manosa - 58 Cal. 4th 697, 168 Cal. Rptr. 3d 440, 319 P.3d 201 (2014)

Rule:

If a plaintiff can establish the defendant provided alcohol to an obviously intoxicated minor, and that such action was the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries or death, Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25602.1, permits liability in two circumstances: (1) the defendant was either licensed to sell alcohol, required to be licensed, or federally authorized to sell alcoholic beverages in certain places, and the defendant sold, furnished, or gave the minor alcohol or caused alcohol to be sold, furnished, or given to the minor; or (2) the defendant was "any other person" (i.e., neither licensed nor required to be licensed), and he or she sold alcohol to the minor or caused it to be sold. Whereas licensees (and those required to be licensed) may be liable if they merely furnish or give an alcoholic beverage away, a nonlicensee may be liable only if a sale occurs; that is, a nonlicensee, such as a social host, who merely furnishes or gives drinks away - even to an obviously intoxicated minor - retains his or her statutory immunity.

Facts:

At defendant Jessica Manosa’s party, an underage, intoxicated guest who was charged a fee to enter consumed alcoholic beverages, killed another partygoer. Plaintiffs, the parents of the decedent, filed a wrongful action against Jessica Manosa and her parents, asserting three causes of actions: general negligence, premises liability, and liability under Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25602.1. The trial court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment. The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment. Plaintiffs’ petition for review was granted. 

Issue:

Under the circumstances, could the defendant be held liable for the partygoer’s death, thereby rendering the grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant an error? 

Answer:

Yes.

Conclusion:

The Supreme Court concluded that the pleaded facts, which alleged that the defendant charged an entrance fee to some guests (including the minor who caused the death), payment of which entitled guests to drink the provided alcoholic beverages, raised a triable issue of fact whether the host sold alcoholic beverages, or caused them to be sold, within the meaning of Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25602.1, rendering her potentially liable under the terms of that statute as a person who sold alcohol to an obviously intoxicated minor. The Court held that the defendant’s act of charging guests a fee in exchange for entrance to her party and access to the alcoholic beverages she provided constituted a sale under Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 23025 & 25602.1, because the beverages were purveyed for consideration and therefore not free. Because the facts, read in a light most favorable to plaintiffs supported the conclusion that the host was a person who sold alcoholic beverages to an obviously intoxicated minor, and the minor's intoxication was the proximate cause of the decedent's death, the defendant was potentially liable under § 25602.1, and the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in her favor.