Florida's Anti-Dram Shop Liability Act: Is It Time to Extend Liability to Social and Commercial Hosts

Authors

Hugo L. Garcia

First Page

95

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This Comment focuses on Florida's Dram Shop Act, in a moral societal context, and how such civil liability should be extended to include social and commercial hosts under limited circumstances, for subsequent causally related damages to third persons. Part II of this Comment provides and defines the necessary terms to fully understand the practice area of Dram Shop Liability. Part III discusses the evolution of Florida's Dram Shop Act, beginning with the traditional common law approach and ending with a glance at previously proposed legislation. Part IV examines the rise of social and commercial host immunity, in Florida, by tracing its origin from early case precedents. Part V provides an analysis that lends support to this Comment's proposal by examining how Florida courts in the late 1990s have shifted away from the traditional common law rule and began recognizing a limited exception to social host immunity under a theory of negligence per se. Additionally, Part V argues that Florida law should impose a duty on hosts who serve alcoholic beverages to persons who are visibly intoxicated and looks to other states that have expanded liability to social and commercial hosts. Finally, Part VI proposes an amendment to Florida's Dram Shop Act that would incorporate additional subsections and, therefore, extend liability to both social and commercial hosts that provide alcoholic beverages to visibly intoxicated persons.

Recommended Citation

Hugo L. Garcia, Florida's Anti-Dram Shop Liability Act: Is It Time to Extend Liability to Social and Commercial Hosts, 29 St. Thomas L. Rev. 95 (2016).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol29/iss1/5