LIABILITY OF PROVIDERS OF ALCOHOL

At a recent Plaintiff Lawyers conference, a very interesting paper was delivered by Geoffrey Diehm, Barrister. The topic was picked up as a news item on 2BL during the conference. Some brief points in the paper are as follows. It is clear from the paper that providers of alcohol may be liable, in certain circumstances, for the consequences of providing alcohol to members of the public. In a typical case, the plaintiff will either be the consumer, having sustained injuries as a consequence of over-indulgence, or another person who has sustained injuries as a result of that over-indulgence, eg, a passenger in a vehicle driven by the consumer, a pedestrian or another motorist injured by the consumer. Proof of the service of an excessive quantity of alcohol will not by itself be found liable. Instead, a circumstance has to be established for the liability to arise. It is a "special circumstance" which invokes the duty and which sets apart the provider from a passer-by who notices the consumer's intoxicated state. Commercial providers will owe a duty in the relevant circumstances but the argument is not as strong in relation to "social hosts". It is strongly arguable, however, that a social host who has facilitated and encouraged intoxication may well have a duty parallel to that of a commercial provider, albeit the standard of care may be lower. Once the point is reached that the defendant has supplied such a quantity of alcohol to the consumer causing an inability to take reasonable care for his or her own safety, it is incumbent upon the defendant to take reasonable care to see that the loss of capacity on the part of the consumer does not bring about injury to the consumer, or to some other person to whom the defendant owes a duty. What steps ought to be taken by the provider of alcohol when the special circumstance has arisen? Examples given are: phone for a taxi, see that the person only leaves the premises in the care of a responsible adult, telephone a friend/relative to take the person home, give the person a lift to their home or provide a room to allow the person to "sleep off" the alcohol. It is suggested that if the consumer has become unconscious, the duty may require the provider to obtain medical assistance, or constantly monitor the consumer until recovery takes place.

DISCLAIMER

These personal injury law articles were published with the express permission of Stacks/The Law Firm. Please note that the information was correct at the time of publication, but personal injury law is subject to legislation changes from time to time and thus it is recommended that you contact a Stacks/Goudkamp lawyer should you have any questions relating to any of the topics above.