Liability of Hosting a Party | Preszler Law Toronto Injury Lawyer

In this segment presented by Preszler Injury Lawyers, Mick Slinowski discusses the responsibilities of hosts when serving alcohol at gatherings. He explains that while hosts are not required to conduct breathalyzer tests, they may face liability if they knowingly serve intoxicated guests who later drive and cause harm. The discussion also touches on the implications of having guests bring their own alcohol and the potential risks associated with property safety, particularly in relation to the Occupiers' Liability Act. Slinowski emphasizes the importance of being aware of guests' behavior and the legal responsibilities that come with hosting. For more information, viewers can reach out to Preszler Injury Lawyers at 1-800-JUSTICE.

This segment is brought to you by Preszler Injury Lawyers, helping accident victims since 1959.

Good morning, everybody. It's Wednesday, May 6th, quarter to eight, and nine degrees, with a high of twenty later today. Most people are well aware of the dangers of drinking and driving, but what happens if you invite someone to your home and they drink too much? What is your responsibility as the host of the party? Do you have to monitor people's alcohol consumption? Do you have to check people as they leave to make sure they're okay to drive?

Mick Slinowski from Preszler Injury Lawyers is here with all of the answers. Good morning!

Good morning!

So, let's start from the beginning. You have people at your house; you're having a party. Now, do you have to be at the door as they leave to say, "Are you okay?"

Well, I don't think the courts have gone so far as to say you have to check everyone on the way out and have a breathalyzer exam for them. But what they have left open is the possibility that you have responsibility for your guests if they leave your house, drive a car, and hit a pedestrian on the way home. The liability they want to impose is more about what did you know at the time. Did you know they were drunk? Did you continue to serve them when you knew they were driving home? So, they're looking for a little bit more than just the fact that people got drunk at your house. They can impose some liability on you if your guests go out there and you knew about it.

Okay, so if there was some sort of evidence that they were staggering around and you just didn't care, other than, you know, you're hosting a party and someone seems sort of reasonable and rational and walks out the door, then maybe there's some ambiguity.

Well, that's if you had a suspicion that they were drunk. It might be that they're slurring or staggering, or other people flagged it for you. If you then walk them out to their car and help buckle them in and say, "Get out of here, you know, drive safely," then you're increasing the risk to other people. That's where you could share the liability. The driver is still ultimately responsible for their own actions, but there are situations where there might not be insurance in place or enough insurance in place, and they want to go after the homeowner. The courts are very hesitant to impose that duty on people because they don't want to discourage gatherings like dinner parties.

I suppose there's no difference between having a dinner party and serving alcohol that you have purchased or having more of just a party where people might bring their own alcohol with them. Does that make a difference?

It does to some extent. If you're serving drinks to your guests, you could conceivably know how much they've had to drink. In a bring-your-own-bottle type of environment, people just can drink, and you have no idea what they consumed. You don't necessarily know what they had before they got to your party or how much they've had to eat that day. Those are all the types of things where you lose control a little bit, and then you're just looking for the signs of intoxication as opposed to knowledge of how much they consumed.

So, what if they get hurt in your house? They're staggering around and they fall down your stairs. Is that your fault, your problem?

Well, I guess it depends. Is it the alcohol that made them fall down, or was it because your stairs weren't up to code, or there wasn't a handrail, or the lights were so dark they couldn't see a trip hazard? It sort of transfers more to the usual what we call the Occupiers' Liability Act. What are your responsibilities to people who enter your property? When you add alcohol into the mix, there can be increased risks, especially if you've got a pool in the backyard and everyone decides to go for a swim. You see a lot of really serious and tragic accidents that happen when people have a few too many drinks and then dive into the shallow end.

Oh, good grief! It's shuddering to even think about that. And partly because I don't have a pool, but I have kids. There's always that idea that if you go out of town when they're 18, 19, or 20, and they might still be under your roof, they have people over, they have a party, and serve alcohol. If I'm out of the country and my kids have a party, is that my problem?

Well, if you own the house, it could be. You might be dragged into a lawsuit just because you're the owner of the property. From an insurance perspective, typically what happens is if your children still live with you, then they're dependent and they're part of the household. Your homeowner's policy or rental policy would likely respond on their behalf, so you'd have that insurance coverage. But it's your house, and if someone falls again because the stairs weren't built to code, that's still your responsibility, as opposed to more of an alcohol-related injury that they sustained.

Okay, very good. Well, thank you so much, Mick Slinowski from Preszler Injury Lawyers. If you have any personal injury questions for Mick and his team at Preszler, visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/morningshowto. Thank you so much!

Thank you. We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back. You're watching The Morning Show here on Global.