TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) – Underage hosts of house parties can be held liable for the actions of their guests, the New Jersey Supreme Court has decided.
The ruling holds adults younger than 21 years old responsible for the effects of drunk driving. Justice Barry Albin wrote the Sept. 17 ruling in the case of a 19-year-old who let his friends use his home to drink in.
One of those friends tried to drive home “severely intoxicated” but crashed and killed his passenger. The court’s decision will be in line with anti-drunk driving laws that hold bars and party hosts over the age of 21 liable.
Underage adults are now liable if:
-They made their home available as a venue for underage drinking, regardless of whether they own the home;
-The guest causing the crash became visibly intoxicated while in the home; and
-If it was reasonably foreseeable that the guest would not be able to safely operate a motor vehicle.
“An underage adult, by law, may sue and be sued, may drive a motor vehicle, and has the same civil obligations as any other citizen,” Albin wrote. “He too is bound by the social compact.
“His age does not make him immune from legal responsibility for the violation of an established duty that is intended to protect others from foreseeable harm.”
The ruling comes in the case over the death of 19-year-old Brandon Tyler Narleski, who attended a gathering at 19-year-old Mark Zwierzynski’s home. Driver Nicholas Gomes, aged 20, had a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit when he wrecked going home while driving Narleski.
Narleski’s estate sued Gomes, Gomes’ parents and the liquor store where the alcohol was purchased. That liquor store filed a third-party complaint against Zwierzynski.