Teaching Kids to Drink and Drive? Very Stupid
Every so often I have a client who asks me about Open House parties where teenagers are provided with adult supervision and free booze. Unfortunately, this happens in just about every community once every couple of years and the results are not pretty.
Today's front page of the St. Augustine Record contains a sad story about a Party Mom who provided booze at her home at some teen age parties earlier this year. She is facing criminal charges for manslaughter because two of them were killed after they left her house while they were driving. I know there is usually two sides to every story, but this was an incredibly stupid act and was clearly responsible for the death of two teenagers.
In Florida it is illegal for anyone (except at a religious function) to provide underage kids with booze. It is no defense to say that the kids shouldn't have drank the booze. That is what her criminal defense attorney is claiming in the manslaughter case. That may also be what the insurance company lawyer tries to argue if she gets sued for wrongful death of the two kids. The Florida Alcohol Defense statute deprives an injured plaintiff from his right to recover damages if he was more than 50% at fault. Does that also apply to kids?
A homeowner usually has to carry insurance on their house to get a mortgage loan. The homeowner's insurance would provide coverage (insurance) for this type of negligence by the Party Mom.
There is an unanswered legal issue which is going to come up in the death case: whether the drinking of the minors can block a suit by their parents for wrongful death? The "Open house party"statute is designed to protect minors from harm that could result from consumption of alcohol or drugs by those who are too immature to appreciate potential consequences. Newsome v. Haffner, 710 So.2d 184, (Fla. 1st DCA 1998) dealt with an open house party at which a minor was killed with a firearm. His parents were allowed to make a claim for wrongful death despite his alleged negligence.
The bottom line is whether kids are subject to the Alcohol Defense statute. My Prediction: NO! Florida's Open House Party statute is designed to protect a particular class of people: minors. It is intended to protect them from the evils of alcohol. There is likely going to be a need for a Court to decide which law trumps: The Alcohol Defense law, which penalizes everyone from drinking, or the Open House Statute, which protects underage minors.
I think the courts will find that the Open House Statute prevails. If the Florida legislature wanted to the Alcohol Defense statute to apply to minors too, it could easily have written the Act differently to make that clear.
