Can you, as a social host, be responsible for someone’s injuries if they were caused by a person you served alcohol to?
Yes.
With the holidays just around the corner, here are a few things you need to know about social host liability.
A social host is a non-commercial supplier of alcoholic beverages.
Social host liability is the policing of parents who furnish alcohol to minors through the imposition of civil liability that stems from their guests’ injuries. It allows for a civil cause of action against individuals who serve alcohol in violation of a statutory or common-law standard of care.
These laws were enacted to curb underage drinking and driving. By mandating a federal minimum drinking age, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated from 1975 to 2003, over 20,000 lives were saved.
Case History
Prior to 1998, Florida courts did not recognize a civil cause of action against a noncommercial host who served alcohol in a social setting. Historically, there was no statutory cause of action against a private social host for providing alcohol to a minor; nor did the common law impose such a duty. Florida law goes through a lot of cases rejecting social host liability.
In a case called Bankston, the Florida Supreme Court rejected the idea that F.S.A. 768.125 was intended to and stated that it does not impose a duty on social hosts.
Expanded Liability
After this, the Florida legislature then expanded liability for those who provide alcohol to minors with the passage of the “Open House Party Statute.” F.S.A. 856.015. This criminalized providing alcohol by a social host to a minor which subsequent courts found created or was intended to create a duty of care on social hosts and therefore a civil cause of action was allowed.
Then, in Newsome v. Haffner, 710 So. 2d 185 (Fla. 1st Dist. Ct. App. 1998) the 1st district imposed a duty based on the Florida legislature’s passage of this statute regulating open house parties. The Social Host Liability was brought as a negligence per se cause of action. The court found that the law was intended to protect minors from the dangers of drugs and alcohol, effectively imposing a duty of care on social hosts, the breach of which would subject them to a civil cause of action. This was the first first-party social host case.
A year later, the Second District in Trainor v. Estate of Hansen, 740 So. 2d 1201, (Fla. 2nd Dist. Ct. App. 1999) recognized a negligence per se cause of action on behalf of a third party injured by a minor who was provided with alcohol by a private social host.
Different states, different approaches.
States tend to use different approaches regarding this type of liability. Some states recognize a cause of action at common law on behalf of an injured person whose injury is causally related to the furnishing of alcohol to a minor. Some states bar common law recovery but have statutory derivatives and exceptions. Other states actually provide immunity for private social hosts and bar recovery for any plaintiff.
Most states have extended liability to only those hosts who actually serve those under 21 and immunize adults who merely condone underage drinking but don’t have control over the supply of alcohol.
What about Florida?
In Florida, and some other states, as a social host, you are liable if you allow a house party where minors drink alcohol regardless of whether the alcohol is yours or came from somewhere else.
In Florida, it must be shown that: (1) that a party took place at which alcohol was served; (2)the defendant was in control of the residence at which the party took place (control means “the authority or ability to regulate, direct, or dominate); (3) guests under the legal drinking age consumed alcohol at the party; (4) defendant had knowledge of this underage consumption of alcohol; and (5) the defendant failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the underage consumption. (F.S.A. 856.015).
This is very different than dram shop liability which imposes liability to a commercial seller of alcohol to a minor or a person who is a habitual drunkard. Under F.S.A. 856.015, a social host who serves alcohol to a habitual drunkard is not yet liable for negligence or negligence per se. Dowell v. Gracewood Fruit Co., 544 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 4th Dist. Ct. App. 1989).
With Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanza, and New Year rapidly approaching, be careful and be safe.
Authored by Corey Friedman
