In a unanimous ruling written by the chief Justice, the Supreme Court of Canada held on May 5, 2006 that "as a general rule, a social host does not owe a duty of care to a person injured by a guest who has consumed alcohol."
Private citizens who hold social parties, except in rare circumstances where they are actively implicated in creating the risk fiving rise to an accident, will not be found liable.
In the Supreme Court's view it is reasonable in the commercial context to expect an alcohol provider to act to protect the public interest, it is not reasonable to expect a social host to monitor the conduct of guests on behalf of the public. While not explictly stated by the Court, consider whether the question of how to compensate innocent victims of drink drivers has been left to the legislature to address, such as is presently done in Ontario by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for other victims of crime.
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