What hosts need to know about serving alcohol at a house party

Q. I’m hosting a New Year’s Eve Party and want to know what happens if someone gets drunk at my party and then gets into an accident driving home; am I responsible in the eyes of my home insurance company?
–Pete

A. I’ll start by clarifying that this is a situation where people are at your house for a regular social gathering, which is quite different from the way this type of liability works in regards to a bar or commercial establishment. Among other things, the idea is that the bar is in the business of selling alcohol and has some greater responsibilities as a result.

If your social gathering is a fraternity style, for-profit keg party then I guess you are somewhere in between.

We call liability for people hosting regular social gatherings “social host liability.” Cases on this issue talk about whether the conduct of the host amounts to creation or exacerbation of risk. This doesn’t mean you have a duty to monitor the specific consumption of alcohol by each of your guests; nor does it mean that liability will be established simply because you supplied the venue for a party where alcohol was consumed, or even that you supplied alcohol.

As a general rule, social hosts are not responsible for guests who drink and drive, despite hosting a party at which alcohol was served, unless there are other material facts involved.

However, do not read this to mean that there is a free pass to continue to serve alcohol to a person who is known to be impaired, and whom you know plans to drive home, and then watch them leave to drive home. To be clear, that is a problem.

For example, if a host is pushing a guest to drink tequila shots after being told that they plan to drive home soon and do not wish to consume any further alcohol, the host may well be responsible if the guest is in an accident on their way home.

On the flip side, the host’s liability was not established in an actual case where a guest consumed alcohol and then left in the host’s vehicle. The court noted in coming to this conclusion that although the host knew that the guest was drunk, the host had not served them alcohol, nor actively encouraged them to continue drinking, and the host could not have been expected to know that the guest would take her keys and drive away in her car.

As a host, it is important that you are not intentionally inviting guests to take obvious risks. Although this is an article about a legal concept, it is probably fair to say that a little common sense goes a long way.

So, how do you protect yourself when hosting a party? Every situation is a bit different, but some things to avoid include: pushing people to drink more or faster; as a parent, allowing underage guests to become impaired; and allowing a guest who is obviously impaired to leave uncontested. Again, the short answer to how to protect yourself as a host is simply by practising common sense.

I’ll also add that the courts’ approach to this issue is about balancing the safety of the innocent (sober) motorist against the fact that people do not want liability laws that are so strict that they cannot serve wine at a dinner party. Right now, the courts’ view, in very general terms, is that social hosts need to do something is a bit egregious for liability be established. This line may move one way or the other in the future but can be thought of as being tolerated in the same way that the criminal code allows drivers to consume a certain amount of alcohol before driving. To put it another way, courts do not want to be seen to be preventing people from getting together to consume alcohol in a responsible way, but will not tolerate people who get together to consume alcohol in a way that is not responsible.

MORE BY SCOTT HAWRYLIW:

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About Scott Hawryliw

Scott Hawryliw practises civil litigation law as a partner at Stewart Esten LLP in Barrie, Ont., with an emphasis on wills and estates, employment law, real estate disputes and general commercial litigation.

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