You’re hosting a Super Bowl party and your friends, like us, are drinking away their sorrows when the Patriots win again. Your friends leave and later you find out one of them was in a car accident. Months later, you’re being sued by someone they injured because you let them drink drive.
You could be held liable for the behaviour of your guests after they leave depending on the circumstances of what happens at your party
When hosting a party and serving alcohol, you enter into a situation where you have a duty of care for your guests. Legally, you can be held liable for situations where they do harm to themselves or others. If you are negligent in your responsibilities as a host, you could find yourself being sued for damages.
A host’s duty of care to their guests is a slippery area legally. Many things can impact whether or not you are negligent in your duty of care. But you could be held liable for the behaviour of your guests after they leave depending on the circumstances of what happens at your party. If your guests do harm to themselves or others by driving drunk and getting into an accident, you could find yourself responsible for some of the damages.
We thought we would show you some cases where host’s duty of care was in question and to give you a sense of how the courts approach these cases.
Failing to stop drink drive customers
If you’re running a commercial business, you have a duty of care for your customers. In one case that was fought all the way to the Supreme Court, a man was attending a dinner theatre performance in Edmonton with his wife and another couple. During his five hours there, he got drunk before leaving with his wife and two other passengers in his car. He got in an accident. One of his passengers was rendered quadriplegic as a result of the accident. The passenger brought a suit against the driver and the theatre.
While the driver was found primarily at fault, what was the bar’s liability?
A bar must always take appropriate measures to verify whether patrons are driving home drunk and that just not having someone not looking for it no excuse.
While there, the driver had at least five double rum and cokes, which were tracked by the waitress for their table. The Supreme Court agreed that the waitress should have known from the amount of alcohol he drank that the driver was impaired when he left the theatre. The theatre was apparently difficult to get to by foot or public transit, and the waitress did not make an attempt to determine whether or not the man was going to drive.
The Supreme Court said that businesses serving alcohol have a “special relationship” with drivers. If it is foreseeable that a customer is going to drink drive, the business could be found liable if they get in an accident.
“I agree that establishments which serve alcohol must either intervene in appropriate circumstances or risk liability, and that this liability cannot be avoided where the establishment has intentionally structured the environment in such a way as to make it impossible to know whether intervention is necessary,” the court said.
In our view, this means a bar must always take appropriate measures to verify whether patrons are driving home drunk and that just not having someone not looking for it no excuse.
However, the theatre was not found responsible for the damages because the driver was arrived and left with two sober guests, one of whom could reasonably be assumed to be the driver. Were this not the case, if the driver had arrived or left by himself, the theatre could have been found responsible for damages because it was providing the alcohol and did not attempt to check whether or not he intended to drive.
If you’re serving alcohol, asking your guests whether or not they will be driving after being served alcohol can protect your business.
Social hosts have different responsibilities to a drunk driving guest
If you are serving alcohol at your party, you could be found responsible for your guests. In another case we looked at, a woman who was paralyzed in a drunk driving accident. She brought a suit against the hosts of a New Year’s party where the drunk driver became impaired.
At the party, the driver consumed 12 beer and had a blood-alcohol content of 235 mg. When he got into the car, the host asked him if he was okay. He said he was and left.
The case was fought all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court of Appeal found social hosts are not liable unless they are implicated in creating the situation that resulted in the accident. In this case, the hosts served three-quarters of a bottle of champagne, while the event was a BYOB. Thus, the hosts “did not assume control over the supply or service of alcohol, nor did they serve alcohol to [the driver] when he was visibly impaired.”
The Supreme Court agreed, concluding that since the hosts held the party, but did not serve the driver the 12 beer he consumed, they were not responsible. In order for a host to be implicated, they must continue “to serve alcohol to a visibly inebriated person knowing that he or she will be driving home.” Making your party a BYOB might help your case if a guest gets into an accident.
Legal aid can help protect your liability in court
While the Supreme Court said hosting a party where alcohol is served does not “establish the degree of proximity required to give rise to a duty of care on the hosts to third-party highway users who may be injured by an intoxicated guest,” different circumstances could result in your liability is greater.
There are steps you can take to make sure you’re not found negligent. Making sure your guests have a safe way home or are responsible for their own alcohol are some ways to make sure you are not implicated if they drink drive. Cutting your guests off if they get too inebriated, while a buzz kill, is another good step.
But if you are being sued because of the behaviour of an inebriated guest, hiring a lawyer is an important consideration. Acumen Law Corporation handles all kinds of alcohol and drug-related charges. Our team of lawyers can defend you in event of a liability lawsuit. Call us for a free consultation.