Facts
- Donald C. Gwinnell visited Joseph and Catherine Zak at their home and drank alcoholic beverages for about one to two hours.
- Zak accompanied Gwinnell to his car and watched him drive away to go home.
- About twenty-five minutes later, Gwinnell was involved in a head-on collision with Marie E. Kelly, causing serious injuries.
- A post-accident blood test showed Gwinnell’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.286%.
- Kelly presented expert evidence that this level reflected roughly thirteen drinks and that Gwinnell would have shown obvious signs of severe intoxication while still at the Zaks’ home.
- Kelly sued Gwinnell and his employer, and later sued the Zaks as social hosts, alleging they continued to serve Gwinnell while he was visibly intoxicated and knowing he would drive.
Issues
- Whether a social host who serves alcohol to an adult guest, knowing the guest is intoxicated and will drive, owes a duty of reasonable care to third persons injured by the guest’s drunk driving.
- Whether, on the summary-judgment record, a jury could find the host’s service of alcohol was a proximate cause of the third party’s injuries.
Decision
- The Supreme Court of New Jersey reversed summary judgment for the Zaks and remanded.
- The court held that a social host who serves alcohol to an adult guest, knowing both that the guest is intoxicated and will thereafter operate a motor vehicle, may be liable to third persons injured by the guest’s negligent driving when that negligence is caused by the intoxication.
- Applying summary-judgment standards, the court concluded the record could support findings that Gwinnell was visibly intoxicated at the Zaks’ home, that continued service created a foreseeable risk of highway injury, and that the intoxication-related crash was a foreseeable consequence.
Legal Principles
- Negligence liability may attach when a defendant’s conduct is a substantial factor in causing harm and the harm is a foreseeable result of that conduct.
- A social host owes a duty to foreseeable third parties when the host affirmatively serves or furnishes alcohol to an adult guest while knowing the guest is intoxicated and will drive.
- Proximate cause may be found where the host’s service of alcohol foreseeably contributes to intoxication that leads to negligent driving and third-party injury.
- The duty is limited to situations involving service (not mere presence of alcohol) and knowledge (actual or inferable) of both intoxication and imminent driving.
- Courts may develop common-law negligence duties in response to contemporary risks and public safety concerns even absent specific legislation.
Conclusion
New Jersey imposed limited social host liability under common-law negligence when a host serves alcohol to an adult guest while knowing the guest is intoxicated and will drive, and a third party is injured as a foreseeable result of intoxication-caused negligent driving.