Liability for Excessive Drinking Resulting to Injury

Are you host to a party organized for your employees? Before thinking of letting them go on a drinking spree that may result to drunken brawls, cause damages and other serious injuries, be aware first of the liabilities you will be facing...

Yes! You might be liable on your heavily intoxicated employees' actions... So, it's better to intoxicate, er, educate yourself on liabilities for excessive drinking resulting to injury...

According to Dram shop, a term referring to liability of establishments arising out of the sale of alcohol to obviously intoxicated persons or minor who subsequently cause death or injury to third parties as a result of alcohol-related crashes. The laws on dram shop generally apply to commercial vendors of alcohol such as bars, restaurants and package stores. Good enough, if you have fears as to bearing liability for your heavily intoxicated employees' mess unless you do sell liquor for a living, there may be no possibility of you being responsible.

Do not relax your guard, though, you may still be facing legal responsibility under the "social host" laws and what are called respondeat superior theories of legal recovery.

Based on the concept that, under certain conditions, a party host serving alcohol must be responsible for the acts of his/her drunk guest's actions, social host liability are varied by state. Some states, however, have not imposed liabilities on social host at all.

Most states charge social host liability if alcohol is served to a minor (below 18 years old) and the host was reckless in serving alcohol not being able to monitor the extent of his/her guest's intoxication and served alcohol uncontrollably. They also impose liability specifically where the host is an employer and the event has a business purpose. Depending on the state, social host liability laws vary greatly, generally, it's the employer host has a greater duty than the employee guest. This is because of the relationship of the two and there is a judgment that an employee feel obligated to attend an office party more than other social events.

The legal theory of respondeat superior, latin for "let the master answer" also applies in some states. So, the employer has responsibility for the negligent acts of his/her employee, given that the employee is acting "within the scope of employment" and if the employee is acting for the purpose of benefiting the employer and not himself.

By knowing the liabilities you might be facing for the actions of your employees after drinking too much, you must now always be cautious in holding business social events. Several preventive measures can be done like making employee attendance optional and making sure that no minors are served with alcohol. Choose the venue wisely, restaurants and licensed bars that serve alcohol but have professional waiters who can monitor alcohol intake. There are other preventive measures and you may learn them by your own experience...

Be sure always to consider every possibility during preparations for these events so that it would never end in disaster.