As I see it, while I am a big advocate of people taking care of themselves and taking responsibility for themselves, when you enter the alcohol-service areas of the hospitality industry, you need to take some precautions. You are dealing with mind-altering substances, and you have a duty of care to those who do the serving, and those who are served.

I don't know about the States, but in Australia it is a heavily policed law that you may not serve alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated. How drunk is too drunk? I don't know, however as I don't serve alcohol, or run an establishment that does, I don't need to know. If a barman is unable to tell if someone is too drunk to serve alcohol to, then they shouldn't be a barman.

Barmen are expected to always err on the side of safety. How many multi-million dollar lawsuits have you heard about because a barman refused to serve someone they believed to be intoxicated more alcohol? They have that right, they have that responsibility, and should stand by it firmly.

If there is a fight in a bar or club, and someone is very seriously injured, the security for that bar or club with find themselves in a very bad position. That's because it's their responsibility to not let in anyone they believe to be of a violent nature, and to eject anyone that is causing problems in this respect.

Now, if someone is a bit pissed, decides to drive, and gets themselves smashed up, I most certainly agree that it's no-ones problem but their own (assuming they caused the accident), however that's rarely the case when you're talking about law suits against bars. Generally it's (as was previously stated) because the person was continually served alcohol beyond the point of their intoxication, which as I said (in regards to Australia at least) is a SERIOUS crime on behalf of the bar, and can (and often does) result in the loss of license (not something cheaply attained) and a heavy fine (I believe in the vicinity of $50,000).

I agree that people need to take responsibility for their actions, however it is a mind-altering substance, and one provided for a charge by bars, and therefore they most definitely have the responsibility to not serve beyond a point of intoxication, and if they believe someone to be incapable of driving, they have a duty of care to the general public and their patron(s) to attempt to provide another option for the intoxicated patron.

Dol