The Social Host Case That Shaped Canadian Law

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]One of the ones that is most popular, people know, is called the social host case. And the social host case was where we acted for an individuals who had a party at their home, a normal party.

[00:00:10]People came over, brought drinks, and one gentleman was in the basement partying, and he drank too much, and he left the premises, and he went out in his vehicle, hit another vehicle headon, and killing one person and seriously injuring another. So, the homeowners then got sued. We took that case for 5 years from the trial all the way to the court of appeal of Ontario which is the highest appellet court in Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada. They held that there was no obligation of social host in Canada. As such, simply because you have a party and simply because some individual drinks themselves to excess when you didn't provide the alcohol does not expose you to liability. It was a complex case and in order for us to win, we had to look at the law in all other common law jurisdictions, US, Australia, and UK. Of course, at the end of the day, that's what the court held, and it's probably the one that most people know because people can relate to that fact situation.