## Facts

- A 17-year-old, Ronald W. Jarvis, purchased alcoholic beverages twice within a short period from Franksville Bank of Liquors, operated by Robert M. Tonar.
- After consuming the alcohol, Jarvis became intoxicated and was involved in a motor vehicle accident that injured the plaintiff.
- The plaintiff alleged the vendor sold alcohol to Jarvis despite knowing, or having reason to know through ordinary care, that Jarvis was a minor.
- The plaintiff asserted a common-law negligence claim against the commercial vendor, alleging the sale to an underage purchaser created an unreasonable risk of harm to the traveling public.

## Issues

1. Whether an injured third party may state a common-law negligence claim against a commercial vendor who sells alcohol to a person the vendor knows or should know is a minor, when the minor’s intoxication later contributes to the injury.
2. Whether prior Wisconsin doctrine stating that the consumer’s act of drinking is the sole legal cause bars such claims against vendors as a matter of law.
3. Whether Wisconsin’s statutory regulation and penalties for underage alcohol sales foreclose a common-law negligence remedy.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the order dismissing the complaint for failure to state a claim.
- The court held a common-law negligence action may be maintained against a commercial vendor who sells alcohol to a person the vendor knows or should know is a minor, when injury to a third party results from the minor’s intoxication.
- The court limited or overruled prior Wisconsin statements that furnishing alcohol can never be the legal cause of resulting injuries insofar as those statements barred negligence actions based on sales to minors.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- A commercial vendor owes a duty of ordinary care not to sell alcoholic beverages to a person the vendor knows or should know is a minor when such conduct creates a foreseeable risk of harm to others.
- In negligence analysis, causation is not categorically negated merely because the consumer voluntarily drinks; the sale may constitute a causal factor when the resulting harm is a foreseeable consequence.
- Statutory prohibitions and sanctions against sales of alcohol to minors support, rather than displace, recognition of a common-law duty because they reflect a legislative judgment that underage sales create a special risk to the public.
- Public-policy limits on liability do not require dismissal at the pleading stage where liability is confined to sales to known or reasonably knowable minors and ordinary negligence doctrines can restrict recovery to appropriate cases.

## Conclusion

The court recognized that a liquor vendor’s illegal sale to an underage purchaser can be actionable negligence when the minor’s intoxication foreseeably leads to injury of a third party, rejecting a categorical rule insulating vendors based on the theory that drinking alone is the legal cause.


Sorensen v. Jarvis, 350 N.W.2d 108 (Wis. 1984)