Social Host Liability for Serving Minors Alcohol in One’s Home

Some parents believe the best way to prevent teens from drinking and driving is to host a party in their home and take the car keys of teens who attend the party.  This practice cannot only expose one to criminal liability but also civil liability if the teenager that was served alcohol manages to get behind the wheel of a car and suffers injury or is killed.  California enacted the Teen Alcohol Safety Act in 2010, which imposes civil liability on adults who knowingly serve alcohol to minors in their home who later are involved in a collision where the minor suffers injury or dies.

This California social host law imposes liability on any adult that knowingly serves alcohol to a minor in his or her home.  Negligence by the adult must be established, and the furnishing of alcohol will need to be a primary factor in the minor’s injury or death.  If it can be shown that the adult has breached his or her duty of reasonable care and that the breach was the primary cause of injury or death to the minor, the adult may be civilly liable.

Prior to the enactment of this legislation in 2010, California was one of only three states that did not impose social host liability on adults and parents that furnish alcohol to minors in their home.  The vast majority of states permit victims of teen drunk drivers that are knowingly served alcohol in the homes of adults to seek damages based on negligence.  The purpose of social host laws is to discourage adults from providing alcohol to minors, which may then contribute to serious car accidents that result in significant injuries and wrongful death.

While driving under the influence of alcohol is always unsafe, teen drunk driving is a particularly serious problem.  A few statistics relating to teen drunk driving make the severity of the problem apparent:

• Teen drivers are involved in forty percent of all fatal collisions involving alcohol.
• Sixty percent of all fatalities in alcohol related accidents are teenagers.
• A teen boy with a BAC of .05 percent is 18 times more likely to be involved in a single vehicle collision.
• When a teen girl has a BAC of .05 percent, it is 54 times more probable she will be involved in a collision.

The key point is that alcohol and inexperienced teen drivers make for a deadly combination.  One of the best ways to protect vehicle occupants from the dangers posed by teen drunk driving is to keep alcohol out of the possession of teens.  While there are a substantial number of laws aimed at preventing teen drunk driving, adults ultimately can have a significant impact on preventing this dangerous practice through careful supervision.  When the negligence of an adult or parent results in serious injury or wrongful death in a drunk driving accident, a negligent adult may be responsible to the person injured or for the fatality.