CASE STUDY: Alcohol and Event Liability

Sydney, a recent college graduate, has just been hired by D&T Events in a mid-sized city. D&T houses five event planners as well as a large wait staff. The company will supply staff to serve food and alcohol; however, D&T does not actually provide the food and alcohol. Their main purpose is to plan, down to the last detail, everything that an event needs to have in order to be a success. After going through training and working as an assistant to Madison, one of D&Ts top event planners, Sydney was set to work her first big event. The event was the wedding reception of Ms. Ashley Jones to Mr. Caleb Chamberlain, a very prominent businessman well known throughout the Raleigh area. Caleb was notorious for having lavish parties and bringing in a lot of revenue for both Madison and D&T. Set up for the wedding reception went off without a hitch and Sydney felt a new-found confidence in her position as an event planners assistant. However, about thirty minutes into the reception Madison got a phone call and had to leave immediately due to a family emergency. Before Madison left she instructed Sydney to make sure she did everything the Groom asked and not to do anything that might upset him. Sydney had also been made aware before the event of Calebs background and how important his business was to the company. Calebs wishes were always granted and so she passed on the information to the bar-tender and wait staff to make sure they were also aware of the situation. Sydney made it most of the way through the reception alone without a problem and thought she was home free until she heard a guest being loud and boisterous. She made her way through the crowd to see who was responsible for the disturbance only to find that the rowdy guest was none other than the best man. Sydney took notice of the fact that not only was the best man slurring his words, stumbling, and attempting to start fights with other guests, but he also had two drinks in his hands. Sydney quickly went to the bartender, a D&T employee, and asked how much the best man had been served. The bartender informed her that when she tried to cut off the best man, Mr. Chamberlain came over and made it very clear that he paid a lot of money for this reception and his best man was to have whatever he wanted. Therefore, the bartender, under direct orders from Sydney, granted Calebs wishes and continued to serve the best man. Being that Sydney was fresh out of college, she remembered the Hospitality Law class that she took and the chapter about alcohol. She knew that she could be held financially liable if the best man were to injure himself or someone else after he was served too much alcohol at her event by her staff. Sydney knew the best course of action to take was to cut the best man off and ask him to leave, but she also knew how important Mr. Chamberlains business was and how much she could hurt her company if she upset him.

Questions:

1. Do you think Sydney should risk her job and Calebs business by continuing to serve his best man or should she do what is legal and deal with the repercussions from Madison and D&T?

2. What would you do if you were put in Sydneys situation?

Answer: