In my last blog entry, I talked about the importance of ensuring that event organizers, who are using building common rooms, obtain the relevant Special Occasion Permit from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, if they are serving alcohol. Today, we’ll look at the liability issues that your corporation could face by allowing events that serve alcohol to take place on your property.

Some questions you need to consider: what happens if a minor consumes alcohol at the event and becomes ill? What if someone leaves the event after consuming alcohol hosted on your premises and gets into a car accident that results in injury or death? The injured party or parties could sue your corporation – even if your only connection to the event is the location.

Protecting yourself with a rental contract
So how do you protect yourself? Make sure you have a plainly written rental contract with unambiguous language that clearly sets out each party’s rights and obligations concerning the rental room. Your contract should include a clause that clearly indicates your corporation is not liable for injuries or damages incurred during the event. A carefully executed contract and a Special Occasion Permit will assist should you find it necessary to defend the corporation against a lawsuit.

Unfortunately, these documents likely won’t be enough to fully absolve you of liability. A better option is to require that the event organizers purchase their own insurance coverage. This is called Special Event insurance or Social Host Liability insurance and that’s what we’ll talk about next time.