## Facts

- Royce and Debra Graff and Bobby and Betty Hausmon hosted a social gathering where alcoholic beverages were available to guests.
- Houston Moos, an adult guest, consumed alcohol at the gathering and allegedly left the hosts’ home intoxicated.
- Moos drove away and collided with a motorcycle operated by Brett Beard, seriously injuring him.
- Brett Beard and his wife sued Moos and also sued the hosts, alleging the hosts were negligent for making alcohol available to an intoxicated adult guest they knew would drive and for failing to prevent him from driving.

## Issues

1. Whether Texas common law imposes a duty on a social host who makes alcohol available to an intoxicated adult guest, knowing the guest will be driving, to protect third parties injured by the guest.
2. Whether courts should recognize social host liability in light of the Texas dram shop statutory scheme and related policy considerations.

## Decision

- The Texas Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals.
- The court rendered a take-nothing judgment in favor of the social hosts.
- The court declined to impose a common-law duty on social hosts to third parties for injuries caused by intoxicated adult guests.

## Legal Principles

- Texas common law does not recognize social host liability to third parties for injuries caused by an intoxicated adult guest, even if the host knows the guest is intoxicated and will drive.
- In this context, the voluntary consumption of alcohol by the adult drinker, rather than the furnishing of alcohol by a social host, is treated as the proximate cause of resulting injuries.
- The Texas dram shop statute reflects a legislative choice to impose liability under specified conditions on commercial alcohol providers, not social hosts; courts should not create an additional, broader duty where the legislature considered and declined to do so.
- Practical and policy limits on a host’s ability to control adult guests and reliably assess intoxication levels weigh against imposing a legal duty to prevent intoxication or to stop an intoxicated adult guest from driving.

## Conclusion

The Texas Supreme Court held that, absent legislative action, social hosts who provide alcohol to adult guests owe no common-law duty to third parties injured by an intoxicated guest’s subsequent driving, and it terminated the claims against the hosts by rendering a take-nothing judgment.


Graff v. Beard, 858 S.W.2d 918 (Tex. 1993)