Freiberg and Peck, Social Host Liability

The Supreme Court of Canada recently granted leave to appeal from an Ontario Court of Appeal decision regarding social host liability which may signal that a significant change is about to occur in this area of the law.

In Childs v. Desormeaux (2004), 239 D.L.R. (4th) 61, the plaintiff suffered injuries when the car in which she was riding was struck by an impaired driver. Prior to the collision, the impaired driver was at a “bring your own booze” (“BYOB”) party at the defendants’ home and became impaired. The plaintiff sued the defendants as social hosts in negligence for damages. The Trial Judge held that there was a duty on the social hosts to monitor the impaired driver’s drinking because of his history of being a heavy drinker and because he arrived at the party with two intoxicated passengers. However, for policy reasons, the Trial Judge declined to impose a duty of care on the
social hosts, and dismissed the action.