Party Host: liability for reckless conduct of intoxicated patrons

As COVID-19 restrictions have progressively eased, social events and parties have returned to our calendars! The drinks flow and the music plays; it’s good to be back! But what happens if you are injured whilst attending a social event or party? In particular, when guests become intoxicated over the course of the evening, what liability do they and the hosts of the party have to you in the event you are injured by the reckless and criminal conduct of an intoxicated party-goer?

Claims against individuals are notoriously difficult due to the reality that not every person will have the means to personally pay an award of damages.

The Queensland Supreme Court recently considered the extent of social host liability in the case of Dearden v Ryan & Anor [2022] QSC 111 .

The result highlights that you may also have a viable claim against the host of the party and/or their insurer.

Incident

In scenes reminiscent of the many 21st parties hosted by parents of children around Australia, Mr and Mrs Ryan ('Defendants') hosted a 21st birthday party for their son at their rural property, located west of Toowoomba. Dearden (‘the Plaintiff’) was an attendee, along with over 100 younger persons around the age of 21.

Sometime after midnight, Dearden took himself away from the party to an allocated camping area on the rural property and fell asleep in his swag. At around 1.00am a group of Dearden’s friends went looking for him to wake him up and bring him back to the party. One of his friends, who was very intoxicated, located a jerry can with fuel in it from a nearby shed to prank Dearden. Upon finding him asleep the friend dribbled a small amount of fuel on the sleeping Dearden and ignited it.

Unsurprisingly, Dearden suffered significant burns to the upper right side of his body.

Despite the youth’s behaviour being characterised as entirely reckless and criminal, Dearden was successful in suing both the youth and the hosts of the party for his injuries, and was awarded damages in an amount of $600,797.55.

The hosts’ liability

Generally, social hosts do not owe duties to social guests, but circumstances may arise where the foreseeability of harm and the capacity of the host to prevent it combine to bring a duty of care into existence under the general laws of occupiers liability.

In this case, the fact the Defendant’s brought the fuel to the location of the party, placed it in a position that was readily available to highly intoxicated guests, and the fact the fuel had been used in an earlier grass fire at the party, placed upon the defendants a duty to take reasonable care to prevent the risk of harm from an uncontrolled fire being lit by an intoxicated guest.

The take-away

If you are injured at a party by events that are preventable, you may have a right to recover damages from the host of the party and/or their insurer, even where the injuries are caused by the reckless and criminal actions of an intoxicated party-goer.

Remember it is very important to seek legal advice upon sustaining an injury caused by another person to obtain advice regarding your right to recover damages and strict time frames that must be met to ensure your right to recover damages is not lost.