(a)  A defendant, as described in § 3-14-5, who negligently serves liquor to a minor is liable for damages proximately caused by the minor’s consumption of the liquor.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 3-14-6

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Intoxicated individual: means an individual who is in a state of intoxication as defined by this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 3-14-3
  • Liquor: means any intoxicating beverage which contains more than three and two tenths percent (3. See Rhode Island General Laws 3-14-3
  • Minor: means any person under the age of twenty-one (21) years. See Rhode Island General Laws 3-14-3
  • Person: means any individual, governmental body, corporation, or other legal entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 3-14-3
  • Visibly intoxicated: means a state of intoxication accompanied by a perceptible act or series of acts presenting an apparent sign or signs of intoxication. See Rhode Island General Laws 3-14-3

(b)  A defendant, as defined in § 3-14-5, who negligently serves liquor to a visibly intoxicated individual is liable for damages proximately caused by the individual’s consumption of the liquor.

(c)  Service of liquor to a minor or to an intoxicated individual is negligent if the defendant knows, or if a reasonable and prudent person in similar circumstances would know that the individual being served is a minor or is visibly intoxicated.

(d)  A defendant is not chargeable with knowledge of an individual’s consumption of liquor or other drugs off the defendant’s premises unless the individual’s appearance and behavior, or other facts known to the defendant, would put a reasonable and prudent person on notice of that consumption.

(e)  Proof of service of alcoholic beverages to a person under twenty-one (21) years of age without request for identification forms a rebuttable presumption of negligence.

History of Section.
P.L. 1986, ch. 537, § 2.