Host Social Responsibility: What does it mean to you?

What is the social responsibility of the host?

If you have ever wanted to have a social gathering in your home, then you need to know about the responsibility of the social host. It’s almost fall. The kids are back in school, the weather is getting colder, and soccer season is upon us. This is a popular time of year for people to gather around a backyard fire pit or host football parties in their homes. You may have a gathering at your home and provide alcohol to your guests. However, if your guests include people under the age of 21, you should be aware of the possibility of underage drinking.

In South Carolina, if minors or those under the age of 21 are drinking alcohol in their home and there is an accident, the host of the minor gathering may face liability. This is called guest social responsibility. It is against the law to serve or give alcoholic beverages to a person under the age of 21. Most social host liability laws are aimed at reducing underage alcohol-related injuries and deaths. Specifically, these laws place the responsibility on the parent or supervising adult not to serve alcohol. They shouldn’t even make it available.

Host Social Responsibility

You may be liable if a minor leaves your home after drinking and there are alcohol-related injuries. Additionally, this includes injury to the minor, as well as any other person whose injury or death resulted from the minor being provided alcohol.

statistics
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:
By age 15, about 35 percent of teens have had at least 1 drink.
By age 18, about 65 percent of teens have had at least 1 drink.
In 2014, 8.7 million youth ages 12 to 20 reported drinking more than “just a few sips” in the past month.

So what happens if your child throws a party at your house while you’re around and there’s underage drinking? You clearly served no one in the literal sense of the word. But the social host’s liability extends to anyone who caused a person under the age of 21 to also be served alcohol. And if you are not properly supervising children and, in fact, not allowing alcohol to be brought into your home or onto your property and consumed there, then you are likely causing alcohol to be served to an underage person in his house.

So remember, it is against the law to serve alcohol to minors, period. And if you serve, or cause to be served, alcohol to a person under the age of 21, and there is an injury accident, you could be liable for money damages for those personal injuries under social housing laws.

Bottom line, whether you’re hosting a gathering or your kids are hosting a gathering, if there’s alcohol in the home, be sure to take precautions. Monitor what happens in your house during the party. Lock up your alcohol or keep it in a place where it is difficult to obtain to discourage and prevent underage drinking.

On the other hand, if you were a minor at a party or social gathering and the host served you or had you served and you hurt someone or yourself, you may have a case against the host server. Please feel free to call us for legal representation about what happened so that we can protect your rights in the future.