A receipt from the restaurant shows a person drinking a variety of alcohol drinks. This person was in a serious auto accident just a few hours following the incident. The receipt can be relevant to an attorney investigating potential liability for a dramshop. The receipt is not required to show that the restaurant provided a clearly drunk patron or that employees did not comply with the appropriate procedures. The most revealing evidence could be what transpired between those drink orders.
Understanding the sequence of events requires looking at the alcohol service as a real hospitality service, not just counting beverages after an incident.
A receipt records a sale and not the actual condition of a buyer
The record of the point-of-sale can be used to determine the date the transaction occurred, what drinks were bought and the charges are allocated to the tab.
A receipt, however, generally will not show how a client was acting at the time the drink was served. The receipt may not reveal the drinkers who consumed it even if the drinks were shared, or what the bartender saw.
An expert witness with experience will help lawyers interpret the records and also the video surveillance, witness testimony of employees and any other evidence. The objective is to reconstruct the sequence of service without assuming that every purchase is the whole story.
What are the things employees can actually see?
A key issue in many disputes involving alcohol-related services is whether the staff had any evidence to suggest that a customer was drunk. Relevant observations might include impaired coordination, unusual speech and balance problems, or a noticeable change in behavior.
However, these indicators require some context. A single incident on surveillance video could be a cause that is not related to alcohol. Investigators should also take into consideration camera angles, quality of recording as well as the positions of employees, and whether the particular behavior could have been visible to staff.
Preston Rideout brings experience as a bartender, bar manager, nightclub general manager, and director of bar operations to these evaluations. His work experience lets him connect the recorded evidence to the roles of workers in busy hospitality establishments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
In the majority of investigations involving alcohol, questions are asked about the employee’s training. Was there any training for server-servers who sold the drinks? Did employees be taught to recognize potential intoxication? Has management explained to employees the procedure for refusing extra service?
While these are questions that are vital for the Responsible Alcohol Service, reviewing just training certificates might not be enough to address them.
A place may have detailed policies but never implement them consistently. In the reverse scenario the employee could have complied with the rules of service even though it was a tragedy.
A thorough review of operational aspects includes the training materials, testimonies of employees supervision by management and actions documented during an incident. The distinction between a policy’s existence and its actual implementation can be important to both plaintiff and defense counsel.
The Timeline of times reveals the crucial questions
Imagine a client being served drinks by bartenders in a busy evening. The first employee may be aware of a typical behaviour. After a change of shift an employee from another shift could have served another drink. Managers could have intervened later.
These decisions may appear as continuous services in the event that the timeline is not recreated. If you are reviewing transaction logs or staffing plans, surveillance footage, and incident reports It can be useful to identify who was aware of what, and at what time. Missing footage or incomplete records are also to be noted instead of being replaced by speculation.
Industry Practice and Legal Liability Are Different Questions
Hospitality professionals can explain and assess whether a place adheres to the accepted operating procedures.
These laws do not replace the ability of a judge to determine the legal responsibilities. The laws regarding alcohol shops differ from state-to-state, as do the conditions that they can be sued.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting assists plaintiff and defendant lawyers across the country through review of the case, analysis of operations, writing opinions and depositions. Its activities include alcohol-related decision making, staff training managerial procedures, and other hospitality related operations.
The most powerful analysis explains why the evidence does not show
A drunken incident could cause a lot of damage, but the severity of the event is not able to establish the exact date of the incident.
Lawyers must be able to recognize the documents available and their limitations in addition to how employees were required to act under the specific circumstances.
A hospitality analysis is a method of determining whether a venue’s practices discern assumptions from actions documented and to determine if the venue’s procedures were in line with the established standards or not. This allows courts to determine what happened instead of relying on only what was discovered after the fact.