PARTY TIME!

Summary:

When I have guests over, can I be charged if I serve liquor and one of the guests leave impaired and is in an accident?

PARTY TIME!

Ann Fox (guest) 08 Jun 2009 18:16

I am planning a birthday party for my hubby and there should be about 20 guests. I have heard that as the "host", if I let one of my guests leave my home intoxicated, and they are in an accident, I could be charged? Is this true? Does my insurance cover this? Do I need a liquor licence to have a function in my home? What if I change the venue to a hall?

Re: PARTY TIME!

Heather1 09 Jun 2009 01:31

Ann, it is true. You can be held responsible if your guest drinks, drives and then injures someone. Having a party can be a risky business!

As an example consider your guest, Tom who has a few drinks at your house party. Tom then drives over to Bob's house. At Bob's he has another couple of drinks and then leaves. Driving home Tom has a car accident where Shirley is badly injured and will not be able to work again.

The injury claim could end up being $1 million. Shirley is the innocent party and she deserves to be helped for as long as she needs it, possibly the rest of her life. There was a recent brain injury claim for over $13 million in Canada.

It is important to understand that since Tom was impaired his liability portion of his automobile policy will be very limited. So where is the rest of the money going to come from? The courts are going to look at who is responsible for Tom being drunk. Part of the responsibility is Tom's and a portion will be assigned to the providers of the liquor, you and Bob.

Your home insurance will not respond. Your business insurance will not respond. If you do not have a large savings account this could put you in debt for the rest of your life. How do you protect yourself? You may have purchased a special liquor liability or dramshop insurance policy. This policy will respond to the limit that you have bought. This policy is specific to that one event. You can buy this type of insurance for a house party but it is likely to cost $150 or more.

If you rent a hall then likely the hall will ask you to provide proof of insurance. You can buy commercial general liability insurance for any damage that you or your guests may cause to the building. You can also buy the liquor liability insurance for the possibility of an injury to persons or property as a result of someone being impaired. Again,for guests up to about 100 people you would be looking at about $150 for a $1 million policy. You can have a cash bar, collect the amount needed and not be out-of-pocket.

This doesn't seem very practical for every time you have a house party. So you are wise to consider some risk management. Choose your guests carefully. Serving food with liquor helps somewhat. If you provide the drinks then you can reduce the alcohol content. You can make sure that no one drives home by having people turn in their keys and provide a taxi service or designated drivers. Stop serving liquor well ahead of the end of the evening. Encourage guests to stay overnight if they appear to have overindulged.

It is not just the liquor - if the fish was a little "off" or the mayonnaise had spoiled you could also be responsible for the resultant food poisoning of your guests. Be careful that the coffee is not too hot for there has been successful lawsuits for exactly that type of an injury.

All that being said, Ann, happy birthday to your husband!