McCormick V. Plambeck, Et Al: Are Adult Hosts Responsible For The Safety Of Underage Party Guests Who Leave Their Home After Consuming Either Drugs Or Alcohol?

• Published date: 22 June 2020
• Author: Janet C. Kwong
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Cannabis & Hemp, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Personal Injury
• Law Firm: Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP

In McCormick v. Plambeck, 2020 BCSC 881, the BC Supreme Court examined the issue of whether adults who host minors at their home, knowing they will be consuming alcohol and/or drugs, owe a duty of care as a social host to those underage guests.

Mr. McCormick was a seventeen year old guest at a party hosted by the teenage daughter of Stephen and Lidia Pearson at their Salt Spring Island home. It was a general custom for parents on Salt Spring Island to host teenagers and allow them to drink alcohol and use marijuana, as this reasonably controlled environment was preferable to the teens holding an unsupervised gathering in the woods.

The Pearsons agreed to host the party on certain conditions: there was to be no drinking and driving; car keys would be collected from guests who drove to the party; Mr. and Ms. Pearson would circulate throughout the party; and the party would end at 1:00 a.m. Guests were expected to walk home, call their parents for rides, or get a ride from either Mr. or Ms. Pearson.

Mr. McCormick had been invited to the party through a Facebook event in which the Pearson's daughter linked a video produced by an anti-drinking and driving campaign and asked those invited not to drive under the influence. He and a few friends walked to the party at approximately 10 p.m. and drank beer and smoked marijuana on the way. They brought their own alcohol to the house, and Mr. McCormick's evidence was that he drank fewer than six beers at the party.

Mr. McCormick left the party on foot with his friend Ryan Plambeck. But soon after, he found himself in the back seat of a vehicle Mr. Plambeck had stolen from the Pearsons' neighbour. Mr. Plambeck, who did not have a driver's license, caused the car to leave the paved roadway travelling in excess of 70 km/hr. Mr. McCormick and Mr. Plambeck both sustained serious injuries; Mr. Plambeck's injuries proved fatal.

Mr. McCormick sued various parties seeking damages for personal injury. In his claim against the Pearsons, he alleged that as adult social hosts, the Pearsons owed him, a minor, a duty of care and that they breached that duty by allowing him to become intoxicated on their property and then failing to stop him from leaving in that state. The Pearsons denied that they owed Mr. McCormick a duty of care, in the circumstances, and further that the motor vehicle accident, and the Plaintiff's subsequent injuries, were caused by Mr. Plambeck's negligent operation of the vehicle and not by anything they did or...