The receipt of a restaurant reveals that a client ordered a number of alcoholic beverages. After a few hours the same customer has been involved with a serious accident. The receipt can be relevant to an attorney researching potential liability for an alleged dramshop. However, it isn’t a guarantee whether the restaurant served an intoxicated customer or if the employees failed to comply with the appropriate procedure. The most revealing evidence could depend on what transpired between those drinks ordered.
In order to understand the flow of events, look at the alcohol service as a part of a genuine hospitality business. You can’t simply take a look at the number of drinks consumed after an incident.
A receipt is an evidence of a sale and not a requirement of the purchaser.
Records from the point of sale can show when transactions took place, what drinks were bought and the charges included in a bill.
The receipt will not show what the customer’s actions were when the beverage was ordered. The receipt may not reveal the individual who drank each drink even if the drinks were shared, or how the bartender was observing.
An expert witness can assist attorneys with the interpretation of these documents with regard to interviews with employees and surveillance footage. The aim is to reconstruct the sequence of service without presuming that every purchase tells the complete story.
What can employees observe?
The primary issue in all disputes involving alcohol-related services is whether the staff have plausible grounds to conclude that the client was drunk. These could include impairment in coordination, unusual speech and balance problems, or a noticeable change in behavior.
But these indicators still need contextualization. Just a single moment captured on surveillance video could be a cause that is not related to alcohol. Investigators should also look at the camera’s angle, quality of the recording, employee position, and the degree to which an incident was evident to the staff.
Preston Rideout brings experience as a bartender, bar manager, nightclub general manager, and director of bar operations to these evaluations. The operational knowledge he has gained helps him identify the duties and limitations of those working in bustling hospitality establishments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
In the majority of alcohol-related investigations there are questions posed about the employee’s preparation. Was there any formal training for server-servers who sold the drinks? Did the establishment train its employees on how to spot intoxication? Has management explained to employees the process to refuse additional service?
Although these questions are crucial to the Responsible Alcohol Service, looking over only the training certificates may not be enough to answer them.
The place may have guidelines implemented, but fail to consistently implement them. Employees could have abided by established service guidelines even if the final result was tragic.
A review of the operational aspects of the policy includes documents for training, employee testimony as well as management oversight and the incidents that are documented. The difference between the existence of a policy and the actual implementation of it can be important to both the defense and plaintiff lawyers.
Timeline can help answer important questions
Think about a person who has received drinks from a variety of bartenders throughout the course of a busy evening. The bartender who was first on the scene may have witnessed a normal behavior. Following a shift change, a second employee may have served another drink. The manager could have intervened in the future.
It’s possible to make these decisions appear to be one continuous action without having to reconstruct the time line. Retrospectively reviewing transactions records, staffing schedules video surveillance footage, incident reports all together will help identify who was in charge and when. Records that are missing or not complete should also be identified instead of being re-used with speculation.
The issues surrounding legal liability and industrial practice are two different issues.
Professionals in hospitality can provide explanations and assess whether a place is operating in accordance with recognized procedures.
These laws do not replace a court’s ability to determine the legal responsibilities. Dram shop laws vary between states, including the specific circumstances that alcohol retailers could be subject to civil lawsuits.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting provides support to defense attorneys and plaintiffs in the United States through case reviews, operational analyses, written opinions and trial testimony, depositions and other forms of evidence. The company’s focus is on alcohol-related decisions as well as staff training.
The strongest analysis accounts for What the Evidence cannot show
The effects of alcohol-related accidents can have severe consequences, but the severity can’t be assessed by all the facts.
Attorneys must understand the documents available, the limitations of those records, and the manner in which employees were expected perform under the circumstances.
An analysis of hospitality is a comprehensive method to separate assumptions from documented actions and to determine if the venue’s practices were in accordance with the established standards or not. This helps courts determine the events that actually occurred instead of relying on what became known following the fact.