With the Super Bowl right around the corner you might want to think twice about hosting the party at your house this year. Having a party at your home can not only put you at risk if you are serving alcohol to minors but there is a risk to supply alcohol to adults as well. Under Social Host Liability, if a host supplies alcohol to their guests they may be held responsible if any third parties are injured.
Massachusetts first addressed this social duty in 1986. The court recognized the existence of social host liability to third persons where a social host knew or should have know that his guest was drunk yet gave him or permitted him to take an alcoholic drink. In 2000, this statute was further modified, Massachusetts imposed harsher penalties including a fine of not more than $2000 and jail time of not more than a year for parents who serve alcohol to minors, this was in response to the death of a teenager who died in a car crash after drinking at a party supervised by his friend's parents. The statute applies to "furnishing alcohol to a minor," which means "knowingly or intentionally supplying, giving, providing to or allowing by ignoring underage drinking in your presence or on your property." That includes turning a blind eye" to possible drinking. This statute however does not extend to a civil action, in which a third party injured as a result of excessive consumption of alcohol that was not owned or supplied by the host.
In Massachusetts in 2010, more than 25 percent of freshman and juniors at Hingham High School responded in a survey that they have been to drinking parties where parents were home and knew there was alcohol available to minors. In the Concord area, a coalition of seven schools asked the same question and the results were similar to Hingham's. In that survey, 27 percent of students said they had attended parties where parents allowed teens to drink. Most parents are not aware of the legal affect of supplying underage drinking. They are under the impression they are keeping minors safe by letting them drink at their home when that is far from the truth.
In Dec of 2010, Zachary Elworthy, 18 and his father Mark Elworthy were faced with charges under Social Host Liability. Not only did Zachary allow minors to consume alcohol at the Super Bowl party he hosted, an 18 yr old guest of the party was the victim of a brutal beating. Even minor children hosting a party while parents are away can be held civilly liable and could be criminally prosecuted.
Since this year began there has already been two instances in Massachusetts of parents facing charges of social host liability. After the death of a teen that was believed to be coming from a parent-hosted house party, the Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless spoke out against the notion by some parents "that it's the right thing to host a party and keep the drinking there. That's the wrong message. The best choice is not to drink anywhere. If you don't teach young people that, they're not going to learn it."
At Sheff law, we are educated on how to deal with injuries as a third party in these social host cases. If you or anyone you know was seriously injured or killed in a social host related incident, call 888-423-4477 to speak with an attorney to discuss your rights.
