Oregon Court of Appeals Holds That a Social Host is Not Entitled to Immunity From a Claim By a Guest Who Voluntarily Becomes Intoxicated

ORS 471.565(1) provides, in relevant part, that: “A patron or guest who voluntarily consumes alcoholic beverages served by *** a social host does not have a cause of action, based on statute or common law, against the person serving the alcoholic beverages, even though the alcoholic beverages are served to the patron or guest while the patron or guest is visibly intoxicated.”  On November 1, 2017, in Schutz v. La Costita III, the Oregon Court of Appeals found that statute to be “unconstitutional because it falls within a category of legislation that the remedy clause [of the Oregon Constitution] prohibits.”  The dismissal issued by the trial court was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings.  The Oregon Court of Appeal’s analysis was based on the recent Oregon Supreme Court case Horton v. OHSU, 359 Or 168 (2016).

Link to opinion.