Social gathering where alcohol is a “bring your own” affair. Guest leaves under the influence, gets in accident. Is the host legally in trouble?
State of Connecticut, specifically, though general info is welcome.
This has not happened, nor do I think it will, but with a definitive answer I could arm the host with enough info to either a) justify limiting the alcohol, or b) set his mind at ease.
As it is, he’s kind of feeling between a rock and a hard place, not wanting to be a killjoy, but also worried about his life (job, house, wife and kids) being upended because some dumbass smacked a telephone pole with a blood alcohol content just over the legal limit.
I’m pretty sure that he is responcible if a jury says he is. If my son got killed in a drunk driving incident after a party I could sue Emmit Smith if a jury would agree.
Anyone can be sued for any reason, so there could be civil wrongful death liability. As far as criminal charges go, some jurisdictions are placing the burden on the host.
IANAL, this is not legal advice, just my thoughts.
The quoted findlaw article says that the host has a responsibility to stop “serving” guests. But in the OP, the host was not, strictly speaking, serving anyone. The guest brought his own and was helping himself.
However – I’ve had events of this sort at my house, and we certainly for our own peace of mind have on a few occasions insisted that a guest sleep on the couch or let us call him a taxi. The question, of course, is whether we would be reliably able to tell in all cases if a person were impaired. Bartenders often undergo education specifically for that purpose.
I would imagine that if this happened, the host could very likely be charged or sued under host liability. Whether that suit or prosecution would succeed would undoubtedly depend on a lot of factors, but would be a real PITA for the host regardless.
Here is a good discussion of social host liability for serving alcohol in Connecticut. According to the article, the law is not clear, but it seems that a social host can be held liable for serving alcohol to a guest. It is less clear whether a Connecticut court would hold a social host liable for merely permitting a guest to leave the party drunk where the host has not served the alcohol.
I know you asked about legality, but …ummm … the heck with that!
Would you or your friend feel better if someone at your house or event where you
A) Served the alcohol.
B) Let guests bring and consume their own alcohol.
C) Showed up already impaired!
and you let them get behind a wheel impaired or in the case of C, leaving so soon after they arrived that they are still impaired. They then proceeded to kill someone?
Come on Dee
Or b? Not limit alcohol and set his mind at ease that he will not be legally responsible!
Please if being responsible means being a “killjoy” then better that then aiding a killer!