Partylaw
posted by Frank Pasquale
Dahlia Lithwick has a cautionary piece on the perils of partying–specifically, of holding an office party. She notes that “in a national phone survey. . . nearly one in four (24%) adults do not know that a party host who serves alcohol to a clearly drunk guest may be legally responsible if that person goes on to hurt or kill someone in a car accident.” Focusing on some other sources of liability, she proposes an all-purpose disclaimer for guests you may want to invite:
All guests must maintain a 5-foot distance from all others at all times (spouses included). Appropriate topics for conversation are: work; sports; light political banter; reality-television shows. Any unapproved conversational topics shall be cleared in advance by the Human Resources department. All dance moves shall be preapproved by the HR department.
Ahh, the juridification of the lifeworld: from prenup to pre-party. Time to shop for umbrella insurance!
December 4, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Posted in: Humor
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Responses (1)
Patrick S. O'Donnell - December 4, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Frank,
You might also want to link to the New York Law Journal article ‘by Jeffrey S. Klein and Nicholas J. Pappas (both of Weil, Gotshal & Manges) reminding employers that holiday parties can breed litigation’: posted at Workplace Prof Blog: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/
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