Rented Hall and Alcohol

July 4, 2016

My insured is covered by an HO3 10/00. They will be renting a hall for their daughter's wedding. The hall would fall into the definition of an “insured location.” My question surrounds liquor liability. The insured will be purchasing his own liquor and serving it to guests without charge. I would appreciate your comments on liability coverage under the homeowners, especially as pertains to a guest who leaves the reception intoxicated and injures others in an auto accident. It would seem that there is no coverage for the insured under the motor vehicle exclusion. Do you agree? If you do, is there any liability coverage under the insured's auto policy for this exposure?

Kentucky Subscriber

This gets tricky, as the liability issue itself gets hairy and various states view the liability of the host differently. There would be no motor vehicle coverage under the home since the guest is presumably driving his own vehicle. Coverage could also be excluded under the expected or intended injury exclusion, since it could be expected that letting a drunk guest get in a vehicle to drive would lead to injury of others. Likewise the auto policy will not provide coverage since the guest is driving his own vehicle for his own purposes.