The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the parents of children who host drinking parties in their homes when a car accident results from the party cannot be sued as a result if they are unaware of the drinking.
State law still forbids parents to serve alcohol to minors, but the parents in the case under review were not proven to have explicitly provided alcohol or to have known a drinking party was taking place.
The case involved an intoxicated girl whose car crashed after she had attended an underage drinking party. The victims of the crash sued the parents of the event's host, according to the court records.
Nothing in the Wisconsin statutes renders the [parents'] conduct unlawful,"" said Justice N. Patrick Crooks in the majority opinion, reversing an appeals court decision.
Crooks said if the parents had been found guilty, it would have represented an expansion of liability law , which should be decided by the state Legislature.
