Earlier this week, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that teenagers in Massachusetts who host underage drinking parties, but don’t supply alcohol, cannot be held liable in a subsequent civil lawsuit for injuries sustained by a person at the gathering.
According to Justice Fernande Duffly, “We [were] asked to enlarge the scope of social host liability under our common law by extending a duty of care to an underage host who does not supply alcohol to underage guests, but provides a location where they are permitted to consume it…We decline[d] to do so, and reaffirm[ed] that liability attaches only where a social host either serves alcohol or exercises effective control over the supply of alcohol.”
This ruling stems from a suit filed by the estate of Rachel Juliano, a Massachusetts teenager who was tragically left with permanent brain injuries after a car accident. It was later determined that the driver of the vehicle, her boyfriend, was operating under the influence (OUI), after leaving a party at the home of another Massachusetts teenager, where he consumed alcohol.