Alcohol at events vs open container

Started by LanceG1 • 6 replies • 1124 views

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LanceG1 (Georgia)
Posts: 97

Posted:

Our HOA is un-gated and as such all streets are public county roads. The social committee wants to have a block party with alcohol. The county, which is where we are in, has open container laws that this would violate. Even BYOB would do this.

There are insurance issues we have with this as well. Specifically, that the actual coverage for this gets murky if the event is open to non-residents. It's murky there because our neighborhood is in a urban area and has loads of other houses on all sides next to it. The block party is not going to be closing the street to limit access to residents and guests so how would we be able to limit it? I think the rep meant coverage for alcohol, but I'm asking for clarification since this might require special event coverage.

To me these two things would seem like a non-starter. That said we have some people who are hell bent on wanting to have the HOA to have alcohol who are on the board. I love to drink as much as the next guy, but.... My thought is,have the party but officially make it alcohol free. Remind people about the open container laws and let it go at that. If people violate it on their own, they do but it is not HOA sanctioning breaking the law. Does anybody have any better ideas for this kind of thing?

PestY
Posts: 128

Posted:

PERFECT

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

It is not open container if it's inside a building. So can keep the alcohol use to the inside. Can't bring glasses/bottles outside. It also helps that no one calls the police to view people with open container. The police have to see it before they can do anything about it.

Former HOA President

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Why involve the HOA at all?

- Drinking will be taking place on either public road (individuals responsibility)
- Or Private property (homeowners insurance responsibility)

If someone did get hurt, your HOA insurance isn't going to step up to the plate. They are going to look for ways to push the responsibility to another, such as the homeowner's insurance policy.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Could the block party be limited to those homes on one side of the street and party goers stay one one lot as in not use public property? Easy if able to walk from one home to the next without leaving either property as in no use of public property.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Personally, I don't believe HOAs should provide booze at community events - it can get really expensive, even if they provided it for a limited time, such as one hour, and as you state, the liabiltiy risk may be too much. That said, if you're wondering how the HOA's master insurance policy would look at this, you really need to talk to the agent.

As for the open container law, you may want to take a closer look at yours. My understanding is these laws generally apply if you're in a public place like a park or in a car (even if you're a passenger). I'm not sure if this would be the case if a few neighbors were sitting on someone's porch enjoying the party while sipping whiskey. For that, you might want to talk to your local police department for suggestions on keeping that under control.

Besides not providing the booze themselves, the HOA should ask homeowners to limit the sipping to their own homes and not on the streets. People are adults and should be smart enough to use common sense - make sure no underage people have access, cut off people if it appears they've had too much and so on. Remind people they could be held personally liable if a guest in his/her home were to drive off "tore up from the floor up" and then get in an accident causing injury or death. And if there was damage to the common area, they would be held responsible for that as well. This should include littering, which is why the drinking should be limited to individual homeowner's property (tell homeowners they're expected to pick up after themselves)

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

NpS (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 4,216

Posted:

We hold a block party on HOA grounds each year.

As an HOA, we do only 2 things:
- Pay for the tent rental.
- Publish announcements that the homeowners who run the event want sent to the community.

Owners bring their own food and drink - The HOA is not involved. Alcohol is always there.

Like you, we are ungated. When the original farmland was sub-divided into 3 different communities, residents of each community were granted walking easements to the grounds of the other 2 communities. We also have other people passing through from the surrounding neighborhood.

Before we began annual block parties, we asked our insurance agent if we should have any special concerns about liability. He said that, as long as people have the right to use the property, then they can use the property. The HOA can't exclude them and can't be responsible for what they do. If something goes wrong, the police can be called to deal with the incident. In other words, the BOD should not be concerned about any special liability for an event that's managed by individual owners who have a right to be there. It would be no different than a private party by a single homeowner.

Regardless of where the liability landed, we wanted to make sure that we would have no out-of-pocket costs. Our broker said that, if sued, our insurance company would defend. That was enough for us to decide to move forward.

Sikubali jukumu. Read all posts at your own risk.

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