social host

Legal Definition of social host

: a person who furnishes another with alcohol in a social setting and not as a licensed vendor courts…reluctant to impose liability on social hosts based on…negligence principles alone, without the support of express legislative policy — Ferreira v. Strack, 652 A.2d 965 (1995)

Note: Social hosts have sometimes been found criminally liable for serving alcohol to a minor or to an already usually obviously intoxicated person, and have sometimes been found civilly liable for injury to or by an intoxicated minor. Less often, a social host has been found civilly liable for subsequent injury to a third party caused by an intoxicated adult guest, especially in an automobile accident.