Cite as 329 Ark. 143 (1997)
statute classifying the criminal act of selling or furnishing alcohol to minors for monetary gain a felony create a duty for licensees to exercise a high standard of care for the protection of minors. A breach of this duty can lead to a suit for negligence.
[7] In Rogers v. Stillman, 223 Ark. 779, 268 S.W.2d 614 (1954), we concluded that the violation of a statute is evidence of negligence. See also, Gussell v. Missouri Pac. R.R., 237 Ark. 812, 376 S.W.2d 545 (1964); Franco, Admn'x v. Bunyard, 261 Ark. 144, 547 S.W.2d 91 (1977). On the issue of proximate cause, it is often enough to point out that the act could not have occurred if the law had been obeyed. Franco, supra, 261 Ark. at 147. It is our conclusion a licensed vendor's violation of the statute prohibiting the sale of alcohol to minors is evidence of negligence to be submitted to a jury.
[8] For the foregoing reasons, the holding in Carr is hereby modified to allow juries to determine whether the violation of the criminal statute for selling alcohol to minors by a licensed vendor is the proximate cause of any subsequent alcohol-related injury to a minor or third party. Due to the legislative enactment of a higher duty of care, a licensed vendor who violates the regulatory policy and the criminal statutes of this state by selling alcohol to minors should be held accountable for any consequences of that action if a jury determines the results were foreseeable. Therefore, such violations of the statute prohibiting the sale of alcohol to minors by a licensed vendor can be presented to the jury as evidence of negligence with the jury to determine whether such was the proximate cause of any harm.
[9] We conclude that the rule of liability adopted herein should be prospective. With the exception of the claims at issue here, there shall be liability for acts of negligence of a vendor selling to a minor pursuant to the application of this holding commencing with trials held on or after the date this opinion becomes final. With respect to this case, our decision is given immediate effect so that the efforts of a litigant to bring about needed changes in the law will not go unrewarded, because without such inducements changes might not occur. See Special Sch. Dist. of Ft. Smith v. Sebastian Co., 277 Ark. 326, 641 S.W.2d 702 (1982). For the
