Action Against Social Host Parents For Wrongful Death Of 17-Year-Old Sleepover Guest.

After the parents of a 16-year-old went to bed, a 17-year-old sleepover guest obtained vodka from the parents’ bar and consumed 15 shots. She vomited and passed out. The 16-year-old propped her friend’s head against the toilet, closed the bathroom door and went to bed. The girl was pronounced dead the next day. The decedent’s parents sued the host parents for wrongful death. The trial court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment, ruling the suit was barred by California’s social host immunity statute, Civil Code section 1714, subdivision (c). [Probably as a result of this case, Civil Code section 1714, subsection (d)(1) was added by the Legislature since then. The new exception states that social host immunity does not prevent a lawsuit against a parent or other adult who knowingly furnishes alcohol at his or her residence to a person under 21.] The appellate court noted the plaintiffs in the instant case did not allege defendants knowingly furnished alcohol to their daughter, but that their conduct fell outside the immunity statute because the host parents had a special relationship with the decedent. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment, stating: “[Defendants] had a special relationship with [decedent] because she was an invited guest in their home, but that special relationship, by itself, does not negate the specific statutory host immunity applicable to these facts. As to [the 16-year-old, the [plaintiffs] do not cite authority imposing a special relationship on a minor who invites another minor to stay the night.” (Allen v. Liberman  (Cal. App. Third Dist.; June 18, 2014) 227 Cal.App.4th 46, [173 Cal.Rptr.3d 463].)