New Haven Personal Injury Law Blog

For many people in Connecticut, drinking in private social situations is a normal part of everyday or regular behavior. In many cases, minors begin drinking well before the legal drinking age, often in the homes of family friends or even in their own parent's or guardian's home. While these experiences are common, they hold a great deal of risk for the adults responsible for the home or private space.

This behavior is even more prevalent in colleges and universities, where a legal adult may host a party at his or her home. Free-flowing alcohol is a regular occurrence in these settings, and the people with legal liability for potential injuries often do not appreciate the seriousness of the circumstances. When a minor receives injuries after drinking in a private social setting, social hosts still may hold some liability for those injuries in Connecticut.

Some parents in Connecticut take a cynical view of teen drinking. They figure that teens are going to drink anyway, so they might as well provide their children and their friends with alcohol in their home where they can keep an eye on them rather than have them sneak around behind the parents' backs. 

According to American Addiction Centers, however, teenagers whose parents set boundaries on underage drinking, and impose penalties if the teens exceed those boundaries, are significantly less likely to drink. Furthermore, parents who knowingly provide teenagers with alcohol risk running afoul of Connecticut's social host laws, which can result in criminal and sometimes civil penalties. 

If you or a loved one sustains a dog bite in Connecticut, you should take it seriously. Dog bites can lead to illness, disfigurement, psychological trauma and a number of other health issues. However, even if a dog bite occurs, you should try to stay calm and not overreact. According to Canine Journal, only a small percentage of dog bites result in injury or require medical attention; 81% of them do not. 

Statistics show that some breeds of dogs do tend to bite more than others. Some of these are dogs you might expect to be aggressive, such as German Shepherds and pit bulls. However, it is not only the largest dogs, or the dogs with the most notorious reputations, who bite the most often. Some of the breeds most likely to bite are among the smallest, such as Chihuahuas, Pekingese or Jack Russell Terriers. 

Regardless of who is at fault, a motorcyclist is more vulnerable to injury in a collision with a car than occupants of the other vehicle. This is due to the exposure that results from sitting on top of a vehicle rather than inside an enclosed space. A crash involving a motorcycle and two cars in a residential neighborhood of Waterbury, Connecticut, resulted in the motorcyclist's death following ejection from his vehicle. An investigation into the accident required authorities to close down North Main Street in the vicinity of the collision for some time thereafter. 

The driver of the first car reportedly drove onto the front lawn of a nearby home in order to avoid a collision with the 26-year-old male motorcyclist who reportedly crossed into the southbound lane. A second car, also traveling south, then collided with the motorcycle head-on.