A receipt from a restaurant shows that the customer drank several alcohol-based drinks. The patron was involved in a serious car accident within a couple of hours of the incident. The receipt can be relevant to an attorney who is researching potential liability for an alleged Dramshop. However, it’s not a sure way to determine whether the restaurant served an intoxicated customer or whether employees failed to follow appropriate procedures. The most relevant evidence could depend on what transpired between those drinks ordered.
Understanding this sequence requires studying the alcohol service as a hospitality process, not just taking note of the number of drinks consumed after an incident.
Receipts record a sale not a customer’s condition
The records at the point of sale can reveal the dates when transactions took place, which beverages were purchased, as well as how charges were assigned to a tab.
The receipt does not provide information about how a client behaved when they were served a drink. It’s not always possible to establish who drank the drinks, if they were shared, or what the bartender was watching.
An experienced Expert Witness can help attorneys interpret these records alongside surveillance footage, employee statements, and other available evidence. It is essential to reconstruct the order of service, without thinking that every purchase will be the entire story.
What could employees actually observe?
A key issue in many disputes involving alcohol-related services is whether the staff had recognizable reasons to believe the client was drunk. Relevant observations might include impaired coordination, speech that is unusual, difficulty maintaining balance, or noticeable changes in behavior.
However, these indicators need some context. The actions recorded on surveillance footage may not be a direct result of drinking. Investigators must also look at the camera’s angle, quality of the recording, employee position, and if a particular behavior was visible to staff.
Preston Rideout has experience as the nightclub’s manager as well as bar manager director of operations for bars, and bartender. His experience in operations helps link documentation with the obligations and the limitations that employees face working in fast-paced hospitality environments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
The majority of alcohol-related investigations revolve around inquiries about preparation of employees. Did the establishment provide server-seller training? Did employees be taught to recognize potential intoxication? Has management explained to employees the procedure for refusing extra service?
These questions are central to Responsible alcohol service, but the review of training certificates alone might not be able to answer these questions.
The establishment may have policies that are in place, but they fail to enforce them consistently. Employees may have adhered to established service guidelines even if the final result was tragic.
An operational review will look at the training materials, employee testimonials monitoring by management, the actions documented during the incident. Both plaintiffs and defense attorneys are able to benefit from a distinction between the existence of the policy and its actual execution.
Timeline often reveals crucial questions
Consider a patron who receives drinks from different bartenders during the course of a busy evening. The bartender who was first on the scene may be observing normal behavior. After a shift change, the bartender in question may serve a different drink. Managers could intervene later.
It is possible to make these choices appear to be one continuous service, without having to reconstruct the timeline. When looking through transaction records and staffing plans, as well as video surveillance and incident reports It can be useful to identify the person who knew what and the time. It is better to identify gaps in the footage or documents than relying on speculative speculation.
Lawful Liability and Practices in Industry are Different Questions
Professionals in hospitality can provide explanations and evaluate if a venue is operating in accordance with recognized procedures.
They do not replace the court’s responsibility to determine the legality of the liability. There are different laws for each state on the legal liability of retailers selling alcohol.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting provides support to lawyers representing plaintiffs and defense throughout the United States via case reviews, operational analyses as well as written opinions and trial testimony, depositions and other types of evidence. Its services include alcohol-related decision making, staff training management practices, as well as any other hospitality-related operations that are relevant.
The most robust analyses can provide a reason for what the evidence doesn’t show
An alcohol-related incident may result in devastating consequences, however the severity of the event cannot be established by establishing every prior fact.
Attorneys must be aware of the available records, the limits of those records, and what employees were expected of them to function under the conditions.
An in-depth analysis of hospitality will separate documented actions from the assumed behavior and identify how the practices of the establishment are consistent with or divergent from the accepted norms. This lets courts evaluate what transpired instead of being based on what was later discovered.