Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

HouseOfSteak t1_j5g3s60 wrote

Given the jurisdiction.....she'd very well have a case.

SmartServe training in Ontario teaches you that you're liable for a customer's safety right up until they're sober. Even if you call a cab, get them home, and they trip over a their own porch and smack their head against the doorstep.

It's kinda over-the-top, but them's really the rules.

​

It doesn't excuse criminal behaviour or fines related to such, of course. But there are fines for the establishment, and they do suck.

7

mjtwelve t1_j5grsjj wrote

Smart serve training and what a civil suit would actually find are not necessarily the same thing.

11

HouseOfSteak t1_j5gsrvm wrote

For sure.

A lack of proper evidence can cause problems for civil suits, even if that's what actually happened.

2

afunyun t1_j5g4aa9 wrote

That's crazy. I'm sure she'd be suing for some sort of false imprisonment if they stopped serving her and then detained her on the premises to make sure she didn't hurt anyone after leaving. Seems like a lose-lose for the venue.

9

HouseOfSteak t1_j5g6h7p wrote

Ideally, the venue should not allow you to become intoxicated at all and should - lightly and politely - cut you off or slow you down the moment they get an idea that you're starting to get tipsy.

The venue and server has already made a mistake if the customer is not sober, everything after that is effectively damage control via persuasion and a line with the police (remember, public intoxication is illegal) before they can do something stupid.

​

It's a definitely a difficult situation to manage.

2