A receipt at the restaurant shows a patron having a drink or two. A few hours later the same customer has been involved in a serious accident. The receipt is essential for attorneys investigating potential legal liability of dram shops. It does not have to show that the restaurant served a clearly drunk client or that employees did not follow proper procedures. There’s a chance that the evidence will be more convincing depending on the events that occurred between drinks.
Understanding this sequence requires studying the alcohol industry as a hospitality process, not just recording the amount of alcohol consumed following an incident.
A receipt is a document of a sale, but not a requirement of the buyer
The record of the point-of-sale is used to identify the date the transaction occurred, what drinks were bought and the charges are assigned to a tab.
The receipt does not reflect how the customer behaved when the drink was ordered. It’s not always clear the person who consumed each drink and whether or not drinks were shared or not, or even what the bartender was watching.
A professional witness can aid attorneys in understanding these documents alongside interviews with employees and surveillance footage. It is essential to reconstruct the process of service, but not thinking that every purchase will be the complete story.
What could employees actually observe?
A central question in many alcohol-related disputes is whether staff had any evidence to suggest the client was drunk. The relevant indicators could include impaired coordination, unusual speech or balance issues, or noticeable changes in behavior.
However, these indicators require context. A single incident captured in surveillance footage may have explanations unrelated to drinking alcohol. Investigators should also consider how the recording is done angles, the position of the employees and the camera angles.
Preston Rideout brings experience as a bartender, bar manager, nightclub general manager, and director of bar operations to these evaluations. His operational background helps connect recorded evidence with the responsibilities and constraints of employees who work in busy hospitality settings.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
The majority of alcohol-related investigations focus on employee preparation. Did you receive any instruction for the servers-sellers? Was the establishment able to instruct its employees on how to spot intoxication? Has management explained to employees the process to deny service?
These are the questions that form the basis of Responsible alcohol service, but studying training certificates alone will not provide the answers.
The facility may have rules in place but fail to follow them consistently. In the other case an employee might have followed the guidelines even though it was a tragedy.
A review of operations takes into account training materials and employee testimony. The review also examines supervision by management and the actions that were documented in the incident. Defense attorneys and plaintiffs can benefit from a clear distinction between the existence of an actual policy and its implementation.
The Timeline Often Reveals the Important questions
Take a look at a client served by multiple bartenders the same time in the course of a busy evening. The bartender who was first on the scene may have witnessed a normal behavior. A second bartender might serve another drink following an alteration in shift. Managers could intervene later.
These decisions may appear as unending service, if the timeline is not rebuilt. When looking through transaction records and staffing plans, as well as incidents and surveillance footage, it can be helpful to determine the person who knew what, and when. Missing footage or incomplete records must be identified, instead of being re-used with speculation.
Lawful Liability and Industry Practice are Different Questions
Hospitality professionals can define the operating standards of a restaurant and establish whether its behavior is in line with these practices.
The court has the duty of determining liability for legal reasons. The laws governing alcohol shops differ from state to and so do the terms under which they may be brought into court.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting assists plaintiff and defendant lawyers across the United States with reviews of cases, analyses of operations, writing opinions and depositions. Its work addresses alcohol-service decisions, staff training, management techniques, and other pertinent hospitality operations.
The most robust analysis explains what the evidence can’t prove
An alcohol-related incident may have devastating consequences, but the seriousness of the outcome cannot establish every earlier fact.
Lawyers must be able to identify the documents that are available, and the limits they have and also how employees should have been expected to act in the specific circumstances.
A hospitality analysis can be a thorough method to distinguish assumptions from actual actions and establish whether the host’s practices were in line with accepted standards or not. The courts can then evaluate the actual event instead of relying solely on the information they gathered later.