A receipt from an eatery shows a patron ordering several alcoholic beverages. Hours later, that customer is involved in a serious traffic accident. The receipt is crucial to an attorney who is investigating possible dram shops liability. It doesn’t necessarily establish if the restaurant served a customer who clearly drunk, or the employees did not follow rules. More revealing evidence might be what transpired between those drink orders.
To comprehend the pattern, you need to consider the alcohol service as part of a hospitality service. It is not possible to count drinks after an incident.
A Receipt Records a Sale and does not reflect the condition of the buyer.
Records at the point-of-sale can show the dates when transactions took place, which drinks were purchased, and what charges were assigned to a tab.
The receipt will not show the manner in which the drinks were ordered. The receipt will not disclose who consumed each drink when drinks were shared, and how the bartender was observing.
A certified Expert Witness can help attorneys interpret the records as well as surveillance footage, testimony from employees and any other evidence. The goal is to reconstruct the service sequence without assuming that each purchase will tell the whole story.
What can employees observe in reality?
The central question in most alcohol-related disputes is whether the staff had the basis to conclude that the customer was intoxicated. The relevant indicators could include impaired coordination, unusual speech or balance issues, or noticeable changes in behavior.
Yet these indicators require some context. The actions recorded in video surveillance might not be a result of alcohol. Investigators should also look at 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 background in operation helps connect documents with the duties and the limitations that employees face working in fast-paced hospitality environments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
In most alcohol-service investigation the questions revolve around the worker’s preparation. Was there any training for server-servers who sold the drinks? Did employees receive training on recognizing the signs of intoxication? Management has explained to employees the procedure for refusing extra service?
The answers to these questions can be found in the training certificates However, they’re not sufficient.
A facility may maintain specific policies, but fail to consistently implement them. Conversely, employees may have followed recognized service practices even if the end result was devastating.
A review of operations examines training materials and employee testimony. It also takes into account supervision by management and any actions that are documented during the incident. The difference between a policy’s existence and its actual implementation can be crucial for both the defense and plaintiff lawyers.
Timeline can answer crucial questions
Imagine a customer who is served by multiple bartenders the same time during the course of a busy evening. The first employee may have witnessed a normal behavior. Following a shift change an employee from another shift could have served a drink. Managers could intervened following the shift change.
The decisions could appear to be unending service, in the event that the timeline is not reconstitued. When looking through transaction records such as staffing plans, surveillance footage, and incident reports it is helpful to identify the person who knew what and the time. The absence of footage or the inadequacy of records should also be identified instead of being re-used with speculation.
The legal liability issues and industrial practice are two different issues.
Hospitality professionals can help explain and determine if a location is operating in accordance with recognized procedures.
The court is still the responsibility of determining legal liability. The laws that govern alcohol stores differ from state to state and so do the terms that they can be brought into court.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting supports plaintiff and defense lawyers throughout the world by conducting case review operational analysis, written opinions, depositions and trial testimony. Its work includes alcohol-service decision making, staff training management practices, as well as other hospitality related operations.
The Strongest Analysis Accounts for what the Evidence Cannot Show
A drunken incident could result in devastating consequences, however the severity of the event cannot establish every earlier fact.
Attorneys should be aware of available records, the limitations of the records and the way employees were expected to perform under the circumstances.
A thorough hospitality analysis can distinguish the actions that are documented from assumptions and helps identify where the venue’s practices aligned with or departed from the accepted norms. This helps courts determine the actual events rather than relying solely on what became known in the aftermath.