A receipt from an eatery shows a patron having a drink or two. After a few hours, the customer was involved in a major traffic collision. The receipt might be pertinent to an attorney who is seeking to determine the potential liability of an alleged dramshop. It doesn’t necessarily establish whether the restaurant served a clearly drunk person or if employees failed to follow the correct procedures. The most revealing evidence could depend on what transpired between those drinks ordered.
In order to understand this sequence it is essential to consider alcohol service as a hospitality operation, not only counting beverages after an event.
How Closing-Time Procedures Affect Hospitality Liability Disputes
A receipt is an evidence of the sale but is not a requirement of the buyer
The records at the point of sale may reveal when transactions took place, what drinks were purchased and the amount applied to a bill.
A receipt, however, generally does not reveal how a person behaved when a drink was served. It’s not always clear who consumed each beverage as well as whether drinks were shared, or even what a bartender observed.
An experienced Expert Witness can help attorneys interpret these records alongside surveillance footage, employee statements, and other available evidence. It is important to reconstruct the entire sequence of services without assuming every purchase will tell the complete story.
What are the things employees can actually observe?
A key issue in many disputes involving alcohol-related services is whether the staff could have a reason to believe a patron was intoxicated. Relevant observations could include impairment in coordination, abnormal speech and a difficulty in maintaining equilibrium or noticeable behavioral changes.
These indicators require contextualization. The actions recorded on video surveillance may not be a result of alcohol. Investigators must also look at camera angles, quality of recording as well as the positions of employees, and whether a particular act would have been visible to staff.
Preston Rideout has experience as the nightclub’s manager, bar manager director of bar operations, and bartender. His experience in the operational field lets him connect the recorded evidence and the responsibilities of workers in busy hospitality establishments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
In the majority of investigations involving alcohol inquiries, questions are asked regarding the employee’s training. Did the establishment provide seller-server instruction? Did the establishment instruct employees to spot signs of intoxication? Management explained the process for refusing to provide any additional services?
The answer to these questions could be in the training certificates however, they aren’t enough.
It is possible for a place to have detailed policies, but not be able to consistently follow them. In contrast, employees might follow established practices in service regardless of the outcome was tragic.
A look at the operational aspects includes the training materials, testimonies of employees, management oversight and incidents that are documented. Both defense and plaintiff attorneys can benefit from a clear distinction between the presence of a policy and its actual execution.
Timeline often answers important information
Consider a patron who receives drinks from different bartenders during an evening of crowded. It’s likely that the bartender who served the first patron noticed a regular behavior. A bartender in a different location might serve a different drink following the shift change. Later, a manager may have intervened.
If you don’t reconstruct the timeline these decisions may appear to be a continuous act of service. Reviewing all the data, including transaction records and staffing schedules as well as surveillance footage and the incident report together can help clarify who was aware of what and when. It’s much better to discover the absence of footage or insufficient documents than relying on speculation.
Industry Practice and legal Liability are two different questions
Hospitality professionals can define the operating standards of a restaurant and establish if its conduct is conforming to these guidelines.
These laws do not replace a court’s ability to determine the legal liability. The laws regarding alcohol shops differ from state-to-state and so do the terms under which they may be brought into court.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting assists plaintiff and defendant lawyers across the country with case review, analysis of operations, written opinions, and depositions. Its services focus on alcohol-related choices and training for staff.
The Most Proven Analysis explains what the Evidence Doesn’t Show
Alcohol-related incidents can have serious consequences, however their severity is not determined by all the evidence.
The attorney should be aware of the information available to him in the case, their limitations, and the expectations for employees in the circumstances.
A hospitality analysis is a comprehensive method to separate assumptions from documented actions and determine whether the venue practices were in accordance to accepted norms or not. The courts are then able to assess the actual event instead of relying solely on what they learned later.