Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Re: Liquor Liability at/to/from a wedding reception in NY

The first question you should have is whether the company is authorized to do business in New York. There is a website, http://www.ins.state.ny.us/tocol4.htm, that you should consult. Read the disclaimers carefully. Do not start looking for the d/b/a name; look under the real corporate name. That is, if you are looking at ABC Corp. d/b/a XYZ Insurance, look under ABC Corp. If the company is authorized, contact the Insurance Department to see if they are in rehabilitation (a fancy name for state-based bankruptcy). Finally, get to a library (ideally, a law library; many county courthouses or bar associations have publicly-accessible law libraries) and consult Best's Guide to Insurance Companies. Or speak to a good broker (who should have a copy of Best's) and look them up. You will not want to touch a company with anything less than a B rating. (Normally, you want only A companies, but liquor legal liability is a fringe market, at least in New York.)

There are alternative approaches. You might want to engage a caterer who maintains Liquor Legal Liability insurance AND who is willing to name you as an additional insured on the policy. Make sure that you receive a certificate of insurance AND the policy endorsement. Most policies will not make you an additional insured just because you have a certificate of insurance. If the endorsement is a "blanket" endorsement, then make sure that your contract with the caterer requires it to indemnify you against liquor liability caused by their service of alcoholic beverages AND it requires that they maintain insurance naming you as an additional insured. Otherwise, this will not work under New York law.

I certainly commend your carefulness and thoughtfulness. Most people don't have the moxie to recognize the risk or to deal with it. I wish all my clients had this kind of forethought.

And congratulations on acquiring a new son :-)

This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon unless and until an attorney-client relationship is entered into. Doing so would require signing an engagement letter and depositing a retainer to secure payment of legal fees.

Re: Liquor Liability at/to/from a wedding reception in NY

If I understand you correctly, you do not plan on hosting the wedding yourself, but rather your daughter is getting married in New York's Bear Mountain State Park and you are concerned about liability for inebriated guests.

Unless you are actually having the wedding in your home, it is more a matter of responsibility for the caterer or hall where the wedding is being held, although it is a good idea to be aware of these risks.

New York has several laws, generally referred to as the "dram shop act" that impose liability vicariously upon the owner of a bar, restaurant, tavern, liquor store, etc., for damages caused because they served alchohol to an

individual who was already becoming drunk, instead of either cutting the person off, refusing the sale or letting the person drive off. In addition, if one has a party, as you surmise, they may also be responsible for overserving people who will later take to the road, or hurt someone in some other manner due to intoxication.

I handled an appeal in a case involving dram

shop and "permissive use" issues. A group of teenagers went to many hotel bars and then drove out onto a frozen lake where the driver spun the wheel to make 360 degree circles. The car was borrowed by one of the teens allegedly without the permission of the father. The bars served them and a passenger was badly hurt when the car flipped. Their automobile and CGL policies fought over these issues.

Generally, designated drivers are the best way to deal with a large wedding in the country. In the context of your question, I don't understand why you are looking for insurance coverage. Where is the wedding being held? Is it so large that you are involved in a contract requiring you to indeminfy the caterer? In fact, if the State is having the party on its land in Bear Mountain, they will know how to handle the insurance coverage.

If you want to know where to look, try AM Best, or the NY State Department of Insurance, on the internet or in print, for references to A+ rated companies that write such coverage. I would appreciate it if you could explain why you believe you need the insurance.