Allen

This case involves the application of California’s social host immunity law. Shelby Allen was 17 years old when she went for a sleepover at the home of her 16-year-old friend Kayli Liberman. After Kayli’s parents went to bed, Shelby obtained vodka from the Libermans’ bar, consumed 15 shots, began vomiting and passed out. Kayli propped Shelby’s head against the toilet, took Shelby’s cell phone, closed the bathroom door and went to bed.

The next morning, Kayli told her father they had been drinking and Shelby had been sick. The father went to work without checking on Shelby because he had been told Shelby was okay and he did not want to invade the space of a teenage female behind a closed bathroom door.

When another friend checked on Shelby later that morning, it did not sound like Shelby was breathing. The friend informed Kayli’s sister, who called Kayli’s father at work. Kayli’s father returned home to check on Shelby. He could not find a pulse and Shelby did not appear to be breathing, so the father called 911 and began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Shelby was pronounced dead later that morning. Her blood-alcohol content was 0.339 percent at the…