Holiday Party May Expose Business to Risk of Lawsuit.
Business owners planning their holiday parties should be aware of Florida laws that could expose the business to liability. You may have heard about the Dram Shop Laws in the past. These are laws that were developed during the era of the temperance movement in the US. The laws were primarily created to reduce public drunkenness in local bars and focused on making the sellers of liquor liable for injuries resulting from liquor sales to minors and clearly inebriated adults. Over the years, the Dram Shop laws expanded in scope to also cover restaurants and entertainment venues, reaching virtually every business where the sale of liquor was a part of the business' services.
Florida Statute 768.125 addresses the State’s statutory rule – that a person who “sells or furnishes alcoholic beverages to a person of lawful drinking age“ will not be liable for damage caused by that person’s intoxication unless the drink was (i) “willfully and knowingly” sold to a minor or (ii) “knowingly sold to a person habitually addicted to the use of any and all alcoholic beverages.” That language might seem to provide business owners some protection from liability – offering a more rigid test than merely furnishing alcohol to a person that is clearly intoxicated. Florida case law, however, has been chipping away at that protection.
One case is particularly important to the “business social host” planning business entertainment opportunities for staff and clients. The 1993 case of Carroll Air Systems v Greenbaum involved a business party with traveling sales staff and customers – the sales people at a 3-day event were encouraged to purchase drinks for Clients (to be reimbursed by the sales person as a business expense). While many staff members stayed at the party location overnight, One employee elected to drive home and was observed to be inebriated prior to leaving. After being involved in a fatal car crash, the Employer was found liable for compensatory and punitive damages because (i) the employee was acting in the scope of his duties at the party and (ii) the employer knew or should have known that the employee was inebriated when leaving the party.
For the business owner, this is a clear warning – not only as to client/staff events, but also as to employee holiday parties and other social gatherings where staff is expected to attend based on their position as an employee. Best practices are to limit the amount of liquor at functions and monitor the condition of employees during the evening – cutting off liquor if appropriate or providing a taxi or overnight accommodations to staff members who should not drive home. To read more about liquor liability at the holidays, see Do hosts have liability for holiday party guests? or to discuss your specific business risk issue with a lawyer, contact an Attorney with Wood, Atter & Wolf P.A. with offices in Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
