A receipt from a restaurant shows that a patron ordered several spirits. After a few hours, the customer was involved in a major traffic accident. The receipt is crucial to an attorney who is investigating possible Dram shop liability. It’s not necessarily a proof of whether the restaurant served someone who was clearly drunk or if employees didn’t follow procedures. The most revealing evidence could relate to what transpired between the drink orders.
Understanding this sequence requires studying the alcohol service as a hospitality operation, not simply taking note of the number of drinks consumed after an incident.
A receipt is a document of a transaction, not a condition of the buyer
Point-of-sale data can be used to determine the time and date of transactions, the beverages were purchased, and how charges were assigned to the tab.
The receipt won’t reveal the manner in which the drink was ordered. It may not establish who drank each beverage as well as whether drinks were shared or not, 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. The objective is to reconstruct the sequence of service without presuming that every purchase tells the entire story.
What can employees observe?
A key issue in many alcohol-related disputes is whether staff could have a reason to believe that a customer was drunk. Relevant observations include impaired speech or coordination problems, difficulty maintaining balance or changes in behavior.
But these indicators still need some context. A single action captured on surveillance footage might be explained in a way that is not related to drinking alcohol. Investigators should take into account the camera angle, the recording quality employees’ position and whether a specific behavior was visible to staff.
Preston Rideout’s background as an experienced bartender, manager of a bar general manager at the nightclub, and director of operations for bars is apparent in these reviews. The operational knowledge he has gained helps him identify the obligations and limitations for employees who work in hectic hospitality environments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
The majority of investigations into alcohol-related service concentrate on preparation for employees. Did there exist any training programs for the server-sellers? Was the establishment able teach its employees how to identify intoxication? Management explained the procedures for refusing to provide additional services?
While these are questions that are vital to the Responsible Alcohol Service (RACS), reviewing only the training certificates may not suffice to answer them.
It is possible for a place to have comprehensive policies but not be able to consistently follow the policies. However, employees could have followed the established procedures for service even when the eventual outcome was tragic.
An operational review will look at documents for training, testimony from employees as well as management oversight and any actions that were documented in the incident. Defense attorneys and plaintiffs are able to benefit from a distinction between the existence of a policy and its actual implementation.
Timeline often provides answers to crucial questions
Take a look at a customer who gets drinks from different bartenders during the course of a busy evening. The first employee might have observed ordinary behavior. A bartender in a different location might have served another beverage after an alteration in shift. Then, a manager could have intervened.
It is possible to make these choices appear to be one continuous service, without reconstructing the time line. Examining the documents of transactions, staffing plans as well as surveillance footage and incident reports all together will assist in determining who knew what and when. It’s better to know the missing documents or footage instead of speculating.
Industry Practice and legal Liability are two distinct issues
Hospitality professionals can describe the accepted operating procedures of a place and assess whether its behavior is in accordance with these standards.
The court still has the duty of determining liability for legal reasons. There are different laws in each state regarding the legal responsibility of retailers selling alcohol.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting provides support to plaintiffs and defense attorneys in the United States through review of cases, operational analysis as well as written opinions and trial testimony, depositions and other types of evidence. The focus of its work is on alcohol-related decisions as well as staff training.
The most robust analysis explains What the Evidence Cannot Show
The severity of an alcohol-related event cannot be used to determine the validity of previous events.
The attorney must know the information available to him in the case, their limitations, and the expectations of employees in the circumstances.
An exhaustive analysis of hospitality practices will discern between documented and assumed behaviours and explain where the venue’s practices are aligned or deviated from established standards. This allows courts to determine what transpired instead of having to rely on only what was found after the fact.
