It was a hot, sunny, August day and Tim was on his way home after a long day at work. Traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway was bumper-to-bumper and all Tim could think about was the board meeting he had to lead later that evening. As President of PartyTime Condominium Association, the option of skipping the meeting wasn’t possible. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, PartyTime Condo held a happy hour from 5pm to 9pm for unit owners and their guests in the Clubhouse. Realizing that it was a Wednesday, Tim called the rest of the board members and asked them to meet him at the Clubhouse before the 8pm meeting time for some drinks and social time.
Drinks were two for the price of one and their social committee always served great bar food that was pretty inexpensive. It was a great money-maker for the Association and helped them balance their budget every year. This year they even had a unit owner volunteer to serve drinks so they didn’t have to pay a bartender anymore!
Tim arrived at the bar area of the Clubhouse around 6:15pm – giving him plenty of time to sit and chat with the other four board members before the meeting started. Four pitchers of beer and three shots of tequila consumed later, the five board members meandered into the meeting room (all carrying to-go cups) and waited for unit owners to arrive.
At 8pm – with no unit owners in attendance and their property manager on vacation, the board quickly went through the seven items on their agenda and adjourned the meeting at 8:20pm. Since they finished much earlier than expected, one of the board members suggested that they take a spin on his new motor boat that he had docked at the pier on the Association-owned lake. Everyone agreed – but decided that since happy-hour was still going on, that picking up a few pitchers of beer for the boat would be a good idea. They promised the “bartender” that they would return the empty pitchers on Friday. So, with two pitchers of ice cold beer they all walked to the Association’s large lake and boarded the new boat. It truly was time for boozing and cruising!
Ignoring the life preservers that were stored under the seats on the boat, they took off for a spin around the lake. Drinking beer, talking and singing, they had a blast! Since there were other boats on the lake it became a party atmosphere that evening.
At this point, I could tell you that something horrible happened to the five board members of PartyTime Condominium, but I decided to stop my scenario right here and let your imagination finish this story. Nothing might happen or something devastating could happen.
Let me take a minute and go through the mistakes that this Association made during this scenario.
First – does PartyTime Condominium Association have insurance to cover their
exposure of having a bar in their Clubhouse that sells alcohol? Most general liability policies include coverage called “Host Liquor Liability.” This provision gives the named insured (in this case – the Association) coverage for the occasional serving or selling of alcohol (i.e., an association July 4th BBQ or association Holiday Party where you charge admission which includes free drinks). Since PartyTime had a set schedule where they sold drinks in the Association Clubhouse, they became what is known as “in the business of serving and selling alcohol.” Because of this, they needed to purchase Dram Shop insurance before selling their first drink.
Second – hiring a volunteer to serve/sell alcohol is a great way to save money, but not a good idea. The
PartyTime Condominium Association should have had a professional bartender, with their own insurance, working for them. If someone is overserved and causes
www.cai-illinois.org • 847.301.7505 | 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
