A receipt from a restaurant indicates that a patron ordered several alcohol-based drinks. After a few hours, the same customer is in a serious crash. An attorney examining potential dram shop liability the receipt will be relevant. However, it’s not a sure way to determine whether the establishment served a person who was clearly intoxicated or if employees did not follow appropriate procedures. The most revealing evidence could involve what happened between those drink orders.

To understand this sequence, it is important to look at alcohol service as a hospitality operation, not only counting beverages after an event.

Receipts record a sale not a customer’s condition

The record at the point of sale can be used to determine when the transaction occurred, what drinks were bought and the charges are allocated to a tab.

A receipt, however, generally will not show how a client was behaving when a drink was served. The receipt will not disclose the drinkers who consumed it even if the drinks were shared, as well as how the bartender was observing.

An experienced Expert Witness can help attorneys interpret these records alongside surveillance footage, employee statements, and other available evidence. It is crucial to decipher the entire sequence of services without thinking that every purchase will be the whole story.

What could employees actually observe?

In a lot of disputes regarding alcohol-related services, the primary issue is whether the staff had a reason to suspect that the customer was drinking. The relevant observations include impaired coordination or speech, difficulties maintaining balance or shifts in behavior.

These indicators require contextualization. A single act recorded on surveillance footage may have a reason that isn’t related to drinking alcohol. Investigators must also look at camera angles, recording quality as well as the positions of employees, and whether the particular behavior could have been visible to staff.

Preston Rideout has experience as an eveningclub manager, bar manager director of bar operations and bartender. His operational background allows him to connect recorded evidence to the roles of staff members in hectic hospitality settings.

Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice

Most alcohol-service investigations involve questions about employee preparation. Did the establishment provide server-seller instruction? Were employees taught to recognize potential signs of alcohol intoxication? Did management discuss how to refuse additional service?

The answers to these questions can be found in the certificates of training, but they are not sufficient.

It is possible for an establishment to have specific policies but not necessarily implement the policies. In the reverse scenario the employee could be following the standards of service, even if it was tragic.

An examination of the operational aspects of the policy includes documents for training, employee testimony supervision by management and actions documented during an incident. It is vital for the defense and plaintiffs to recognize the difference between the existence of a policy and its implementation.

The Timeline often provides the key Questions

Imagine a person being served drinks by bartenders at a busy time. The first bartender might have seen a typical behavior. Following a shift change, a second employee may have served a drink. Later, a manager may have intervened.

If you don’t reconstruct the timeline these decisions may appear to be one continuous act of service. Analyzing all the records including transaction logs and staffing schedules as well as surveillance footage and the incident report together can help clarify who was aware of what and when. Incomplete or missing footage are also to be noted rather than replaced with speculation.

Industry Practice and legal Liability are two distinct issues

Hospitality experts can explain recognized operational practices and determine if the behavior of a particular venue was consistent with them.

They do not take away the responsibility of the court to decide the legality of the liability. There are laws that differ in every state that govern the legal responsibility of retailers selling alcohol.

Rideout Hospitality Consulting provides support to lawyers representing plaintiffs and defense in the United States through case reviews, operational analyses as well as written opinions depositions, trial testimony and other forms of evidence. The work of the company focuses on alcohol-related decision-making and staff training, as well as management practices, and other related hospitality operations.

The most rigorous analyses are able to explain what the evidence doesn’t reveal.

Instances involving alcohol can have grave consequences, but the severity is not determined by all the evidence.

Lawyers must be able to identify the documents that are available, and the limits they have and also how employees would have been expected to behave in given circumstances.

An analysis of hospitality can be a thorough method to identify assumptions from documented actions and determine if the location’s practices were in line with accepted standards or not. This permits courts to assess what transpired instead of having to rely on only what was found after the fact.