Employers are hosting in-person holiday parties again after a one-year break. These parties benefit employers by boosting employee morale, strengthening ties between employees, and reinforcing the employer-employee bond, critical in today’s tight labor market. Alcohol is often served.
It is partly because the employer benefits from holiday parties and the drinking of alcohol at those parties that employers may be liable if an employee’s alcohol consumption at the event later contributes to an accident that injures a third party. An employer may be liable even if the accident occurs after the employee arrives home safely and later, while still intoxicated, drives another employee home.
That was the ruling of the San Diego division of the California Court of Appeal in the 2013 case of Purton v. Marriott Internat., Inc.
The facts
Michael Landri was a bartender at the Marriott Del Mar Hotel. Landri allegedly got drunk at the holiday party Marriott hosted to thank its employees in December 2009. Attendance was voluntary.
Landri had a couple of drinks before going to the party and drank at the party, including from a flask filled with bourbon he brought to the party. A manager bartending at the party allegedly refilled that flask at least once from the hotel’s liquor stock. After arriving home safely, Landri left his home to drive a coworker home. On that drive, Landri struck another car, killing its driver, Dr. Jared Purton. Landri received a six-year prison sentence after...
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