A receipt from a restaurant reveals that the patron ordered several alcoholic drinks. After a few hours, the customer was involved in a major traffic accident. The receipt may be of value to an attorney looking into the possibility of liability for an alleged dramshop. The receipt does not necessarily show that the restaurant served a clearly intoxicated customer or that the employees failed to follow the correct procedures. More revealing evidence might involve what happened between those drink orders.
In order to comprehend the flow of events, consider the alcohol service as a component of a hospitality program. You can’t simply take a look at the number of drinks consumed after an incident.
A receipt is a document of the sale but is not a requirement of the buyer
Documents at the time of sale may reveal when transactions occurred, which beverages were purchased and the charges applied to a bill.
A receipt cannot reveal what the client’s behavior was when served an alcohol drink. It’s sometimes difficult to identify who consumed the drink, even if they were shared or if the bartender observed.
An expert witness with experience can help lawyers interpret these records in relation to video surveillance, employee statements, and other available evidence. The objective is to reconstruct the sequence of service without assuming that each purchase will tell the whole story.
What do employees really observe?
The main issue in disputes involving alcohol-related services is whether the staff have the basis to conclude that the patron was intoxicated. The relevant indicators could include impaired coordination, speech that is unusual, difficulty maintaining balance, or noticeable changes in behavior.
However, these indicators require the context. The actions recorded on video surveillance might not be a result of alcohol. Investigators should be aware of the camera’s angle, the recording quality location of employees, and whether a specific behavior was observed by staff.
Preston Rideout brings experience as a bartender, bar manager, nightclub general manager, and director of bar operations to these evaluations. His experience in the operational field lets him connect the recorded evidence with the duties of employees in busy hospitality establishments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
The majority of investigations into alcohol-related service focus on the preparation of employees. Did you receive any instruction for the seller-servers? Did the establishment teach its employees how to identify intoxication? Management has explained to employees the process to refuse additional service?
These questions are central to responsible alcohol service, however reviewing training certificates alone may not be enough to answer them.
A business could have in-depth policies but never implement them consistently. In contrast employees may have complied with the rules of service even if it was tragic.
A review of operations considers the training materials and employee testimony. It also considers supervision by management and any actions that are documented in the incident. The difference between a policy’s existence and its implementation could be significant for both the defense and plaintiff lawyers.
Timeline can help answer important issues
Imagine a client who is served drinks from a variety of bartenders throughout the course of a busy evening. The first employee may have witnessed a normal behavior. Following a shift change the second employee might have served an additional beverage. A manager might have intervened in the future.
The decisions could appear to be an ongoing process when the timeline isn’t reconstructed. Looking over transaction records, staffing schedules surveillance footage, incident reports all together will assist in determining who knew what and when. Incomplete or missing footage must be identified, rather than rewritten with speculation.
Lawful Liability and Industry Practice are Different Issues
Hospitality experts are able to discuss the established operating guidelines of a venue and determine whether its behavior is conforming to these guidelines.
The court is still the duty of determining liability for legal reasons. Dram shop laws vary between states, including the specific circumstances that alcohol retailers could face civil claims.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting provides support to defense attorneys and plaintiffs in the United States through review of cases, operational analysis, written opinions, trial testimony, depositions and other types of evidence. The work of the company includes alcohol-related management, decision making, training for staff managing practices, as well as any other hospitality-related operations that are relevant.
The most rigorous analyses are able to explain what the evidence doesn’t demonstrate.
An incident involving alcohol could result in devastating consequences, however the severity of the event can’t be determined by the prior facts.
Attorneys should be aware of documents available, the limitations of the records and what employees were expected of them to work under the circumstances.
An analysis of hospitality can be a thorough method to discern assumptions from actions documented and establish whether the host’s practices were in line to accepted norms or not. This distinction can help courts assess what actually happened instead of relying only on the information that was released following the fact.