No Civil Immunity Under Dram Shop Statutes For Brewer.

Shortly after drinking two 23.5-ounce cans of Four Loko, a college student became disoriented, agitated and paranoid, repeatedly saying “they” were coming to get them. He located a shotgun and began shooting in the backyard. His housemates called police. When police arrived, the young man went out to the front porch with his gun and police opened fire and killed him. The young man’s father sued the brewing company who makes the drink for negligence and strict liability, alleging a single can contains as much alcohol as five to six 12-ounce cans of beer and as much caffeine as four cans of Coca-Cola. The complaint further alleges that combining alcohol, a depressant, with caffeine and other stimulants creates an unreasonably dangerous product which masks the intoxicating effect of the alcohol and increases the risk of violent and other high risk behavior. The trial court granted the brewing company’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, agreeing that the proximate cause of death was the consumption of the intoxicating beverage, not the manufacture and sale of it. The appellate court reversed, concluding the brewing company does not enjoy the civil immunity provided by California’s dram shop statutes. (Fiorini v. City Brewing Co., LLC (Cal. App. Fifth Dist.; November 6, 2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 306 [179 Cal.Rptr.3d 827].)