## 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

1. 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.
2. 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.


Kelly v. Gwinnell, 96 N.J. 538, 476 A.2d 1219 (N.J. 1984)