In San Francisco, a bar can be fined $3,000 or lose its license for 15 days for a first offense of allowing underage drinking. A second offense can result in a 25-day liquor suspension, and, for a third offense, a bar can lose its license. Making matters worse for the bars, fakes, with the new technology, are so easy to make or to obtain. In addition, owners are also faced with the older traditional technique: the use of someone else's ID. How can conscientious bar owners stop the under-age drinkers from using fake or false IDs?
The San Francisco Chronicle, on May 10, reported an out-of-the-box solution: a bar owner sued the unwanted customer. The Chronicle reported that a bar in San Francisco that had been fined $3,000 and had incurred substantial attorney fees attempting to defend itself filed suit in small claims court against a 20-year-old who had used someone else's ID. What was the result? The owner was awarded judgment for $5,000. And this was not the first judgment against an underager. Another owner who had to temporarily close after two women had used fake Ids sued the two women and settled with them — also for $5,000.
These suits probably did not provide full recompense for the owners, but once the word gets out to the drinkers and their parents, this may reduce the use of the bad IDs.
(National Public Radio also has an audio segment on the case.)
P.S. Actually, the bar owners filing suit was not an out-of-the-box solution since the owners were using a traditional tort remedy. However, the solution was out-of-the-box in the way that the owners applied that traditional tort remedy. As with so many out-of-the-box solutions, once you think about them, the solutions were "obvious." (To me, if a solution is "obvious," that's a sign that it's a truly effective solution.)
P.P.S. How can this type of solution be used in other non-obvious situations? Please post your comments and your suggesions for your fellow lawyers.
Posted by ajlevy at May 14, 2004 10:02 AM