The hotel incident reports may comprise only a few sentences. The report lists guests who were involved, outlines what happened, names employees who responded, and records the time the management was informed.
As an attorney, that report might bring more questions than it addresses. Who was in charge of supervising the employees in question? Was surveillance footage preserved? Did the facility follow its standard procedures? Did you have any previous interactions that weren’t documented?
These questions show why it is important to review business records of every day use prior to witness testimony in litigation involving hospitality.
Start with the documents created during normal operations
Documents are kept by hospitality firms to record scheduling guest services, training for staff, security, management, and many more. These documents were not necessarily made for litigation but they may be used to determine the operation of the establishment during an incident.
A professional witness in hospitality might review staffing plans and operating procedures as well as employee training files, logs of security, as well as recordings from surveillance cameras to determine what responsibilities are assigned to each individual. As an example one policy may say that the manager has to respond if an employee informs them of an intoxicated client.
Examining the incident will determine whether the manager was involved, if the report was issued, and based on the evidence, what the response was. The objective is to assess actual actions rather than to assume that written procedures were either implemented or not.
The way to interpret restaurant records is different
The employees are split among the food service, beverage prep, customer requests and dining-room management. This is a major challenge for investigation of restaurants. A Restaurant expert witness can explain how these responsibilities affect the decisions employees make during service.
Think about an incident in the dining area that involved someone who bought drinks at the bar prior moving to a seat. The bar receipt may document the initial purchase, while restaurant transaction records might record subsequent purchases.
However, those records might not establish what the table server was aware of about the previous service. Examining the server’s assignments, transactions times notes of management and employee records together can aid in understanding the sequence. There is a distinction to be made that the fact that alcohol was offered for sale does not indicate that employees have been able to detect the presence of alcohol.
Casino Investigations Can Require Different Records
Casino beverage programs are significantly different from those offered by the typical restaurant. Cocktails with complimentary drinks, mobile servers, gaming floor supervisors and extensive security operations create additional sources of information.
A Casino expert witness may examine beverage staffing assignments, surveillance footage, security reports as well as the rules governing employee communications. The standard sales receipt may not be correct in the event of complimentary beverages.
In such a case the investigation might rely more heavily on surveillance records or employee reports, service records, and the procedure for the property’s documentation. The expert should be able recognize any flaws in the evidence and not be content with an insufficient document.
Save the evidence until it’s no longer accessible
A major concern in hospitality litigation is the preservation of time-sensitive documents. Some surveillance systems only keep recordings for a certain period of time. Employee schedules, internal communications and incident documentation may be stored in different departments or systems. Attorneys need to identify and archive potentially relevant records as soon as is possible.
The appropriate scope will depend on the allegations. The scope of the investigation will be contingent on the accusations. A targeted review helps establish which records are relevant without assuming every department played some part.
Making sense of paperwork is much easier when you have experience in the field.
Preston Rideout has worked in hospitality since 1996, with experience in bartending, nightclub management, as well as multi-unit drinks operations. Through Rideout Hospitality Consulting, established in 2010, he has advised hotels, restaurants, and resort operators across the United States and internationally.
Expert witness testimony in favor of plaintiffs as well as defendants has involved matters that involved resorts, casinos, restaurants, and hotels. His operational knowledge is helpful when interpreting records that may appear simple to someone unfamiliar with hospitality management.
Staffing schedules, such as to identify who has been assigned to work. Knowing the service model and operational conditions of a property is crucial to establish if the assignments are supervised in a proper manner.
To make a more convincing case Ask more pertinent questions
A quick review by an expert will aid attorneys in distinguishing between documented facts and unresolved questions. It can help determine which records are worth requesting and define the operational terms that is used in depositions.
Not all discrepancies are indicative of a malfunction. Also, not every policy that shows the proper procedure was followed.
It is the importance of an expert’s report that illustrates these distinctions using established business practices and pertinent evidence. Understanding the procedure prior to asking employees to answer questions in a hospitality case can help attorneys prepare cases that have a more precise and reliable examination.
