The receipt of a restaurant indicates that the patron ordered several alcohol-based drinks. The patron was involved in a fatal car crash just a few hours following the incident. In the case of an attorney looking into potential liability of a dram shop the receipt can be used as evidence. It doesn’t necessarily establish whether the establishment served an intoxicated customer or if the employees failed to adhere to the proper procedures. It’s possible that the evidence is more compelling when you consider the actions that took place between drinks orders.
In order to understand this sequence it is crucial to understand the alcohol service as a hospitality operation, not only counting beverages following an event.
Receipts are proof of a sale, not the condition of a customer
Point-of-sale records can establish the dates when transactions took place, which beverages were bought, and how charges were assigned to the tab.
The receipt will not show the manner in which the beverage was ordered. The receipt might not show the individual who drank each drink even if the drinks were served in a shared manner, and how the bartender was observing.
A professional witness can aid attorneys with the interpretation of these documents with regard to the surveillance footage and statements of employees. The goal is to retrace the service sequence without assuming that every purchase tells the entire story.
What do employees see in reality?
The most important issue in disputes involving alcohol-related services is whether the staff could have a reason to believe the client was drunk. The relevant observations might include diminished coordination, atypical speaking problems, inability to maintain equilibrium or observable changes in behavior.
Yet these indicators require contextualization. The actions recorded in surveillance footage may not be a result of alcohol. Investigators should also consider how the recording is done position of the employee and camera angles.
Preston Rideout brings experience as a bartender, bar manager, nightclub general manager, and director of bar operations to these evaluations. The operational knowledge he has gained helps him identify the obligations and limitations of employees working in bustling hospitality environments.
Written Training Doesn’t Always Describe Real Practice
The majority of alcohol-related investigations are based on inquiries about preparation of employees. Was there any training for server-servers who sold the drinks? Did employees be taught to recognize the signs of intoxication? Has management explained to employees the procedure to deny service?
The answers to these questions can be found in the training certificates but they’re not sufficient.
A venue might maintain detailed guidelines but not always follow them. In contrast, employees might have followed the established procedures for service even when the eventual outcome was devastating.
An operational review considers information on training, employee testimony, management oversight, and the actions documented during the incident. The distinction between a policy’s existence and the actual implementation of it can be important to both defense and plaintiff counsel.
Timeline can help answer important answers to your questions
Imagine a customer who is served by multiple bartenders at the same time in a busy time. It is possible that the first employee noticed a regular behavior. Another bartender could have served another beverage after an alteration in shift. A manager could have intervened later.
In the absence of a timeline to reconstruct, those decisions can appear to be one continuous act of service. Examining all the information such as transaction records and staffing schedules as well as surveillance footage and incident report together can help clarify who knew when and what. Records that are missing or not complete should be identified rather than rewritten with speculation.
The legal liability issues and industry practice are different.
Hospitality experts can explain recognized operating guidelines and judge if the behavior of a particular venue was consistent with these practices.
They are not a substitute for the legal responsibility of the court to determine legal liability. The laws governing alcohol shops vary from state to state, as do the conditions under which they may be sued.
Rideout Hospitality Consulting supports plaintiff and defense attorneys nationwide by providing case reviews operations analysis, depositions, written opinions, and trial testimony. The focus of its work is on alcohol-related decisions and staff training.
The most thorough analyses can help explain what the evidence doesn’t prove.
The gravity of an alcohol-related accident cannot decide the truth of all previous information.
Attorneys need to understand the documents available, the limitations of the records and the way employees were expected to function under the conditions.
A thorough hospitality analysis can distinguish established actions from beliefs and provides a clear explanation of where the hotel’s policies matched or differed from accepted standards. This distinction allows courts to evaluate what actually happened rather than solely relying on what became known later on.