The Law Offices of Thomas Glasgow - Serving Minors | Video Transcript

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FEMALE VOICE: Graduation season is in full swing, as you know. And along with that comes all the graduation parties, of course. But there are some serious considerations, especially when it comes to alcohol. In this morning's For Your Family segment, we're taking a closer look at the legal consequences for adults who allow alcohol to be served to a minor. Our legal expert defense attorney Thomas Glasgow is here to explain it all to us. Good morning, Thomas. Nice to have you here.

THOMAS GLASGOW: Good morning, Judy.

FEMALE VOICE: So fun times for a lot of kids right now but, as we said, serious considerations for parents. We're talking both civil and criminal liability. So let's start with the civil law. What does it say?

THOMAS GLASGOW: Well, I mean, essentially, what it says is that if a person over 18 provides drugs or alcohol to someone that is underage and they go out and cause--they cause the impairment--they get the person drunk or high or what have you--and they go out and injure someone or injure themselves, they can be liable. And they can be civilly liable for economic damages, such as medical bills, pain and suffering, the attorney's fees, and cost of the suit. These can run up into the millions of dollars. You can even get charged and be held liable for punitive damages as a result of the accident.

FEMALE VOICE: Now this civil law was enacted in 2004.

THOMAS GLASGOW: 2004, correct.

FEMALE VOICE: --was the reason behind that?

THOMAS GLASGOW: Well, you may remember the powder puff football game that occurred where it was--they used a lot of alcohol. They ended up getting in a fist fight. Kids ended up in the hospital. As a result of that, this is something that had been kind of kicking around in the legislature for awhile. They decided as a result of this that really kind of spurred on the passage of this legislation to make people liable for serving alcohol to others and hosts for serving alcohol to others. Prior to this, in Illinois, there had been kind of a gray area as to whether or not they would be liable or would not be liable.

FEMALE VOICE: Now what about in criminal courts? What can you be possibly charged with?

THOMAS GLASGOW: Well, you may remember the Lake County cases, where kids ended up having a party over at their house, their parents' house. They ended up providing alcohol. Or alcohol was being served from a common source. And there were injuries involved. Under that law that was in effect at the time, a person could only be charged with a misdemeanor, which is up to 364 days in jail or a $2,500 fine for providing the alcohol to a minor. If there's great bodily harm or death involved now, the person can go to jail for one to three years in a penitentiary and a $25,000 fine. So you go to the Illinois State Penitentiary if you're found guilty and the judge decides to impose that sentence if there's injury or great bodily harm as a result of you giving a person alcohol who's underage.

FEMALE VOICE: Now what if the parents say that I had no idea that alcohol was being served in my house? I didn't provide the alcohol.

THOMAS GLASGOW: Well, it's a strict liability, strict liability in two senses, strict liability in, number one, if the kid leaves the house and some intervening action occurs. If the parent wants to say, wow, you know, I didn't expect the minor to go out and run his car at 100 miles an hour after he was drinking. The law presumes that a child is going to do something that is irresponsible if you're drinking and if you provide alcohol for them. So therefore, you're going to be liable for any act. Once they leave your house, you're responsible for everything that could happen. Secondly, that in fact there's--the kid goes out and they hurt somebody and they hurt somebody else, you're going to be responsible for that action as well. So if somebody grabs the steering wheel or somebody does something, you know, out of the ordinary, unexpected, you're still going to be liable for it, both civilly and criminally. And if you're talking in the millions of dollars if someone gets tragically injured or they, you know, hit the school bus full of nuns, you're going to end up being responsible for those people's deaths.

FEMALE VOICE: Bottom line, no alcohol for minors. Otherwise, know what the consequences are.

THOMAS GLASGOW: It's too big a risk for parents to take.

FEMALE VOICE: Absolutely. It's a good thing I have a few more years to--you know, before I have to worry about that. Thomas, thank you so much for coming in this morning--

THOMAS GLASGOW: Thank you for having me.

FEMALE VOICE: --and explaining it all to us. That is For Your Family. And we'll be right back with a look at weather and traffic after this.