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Connecticut · Statutory cap and a short notice window
Connecticut Dram Shop & Hospitality Expert Witness
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts hospitality and entertainment expert-witness engagements in Connecticut. 35+ years of hands-on experience in bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, live entertainment venues and special events — retained by attorneys representing plaintiffs and defendants.
In short
Ryan Dahlstrom is a hospitality and entertainment industry expert witness who accepts engagements in Connecticut. He has more than 35 years of hands-on experience in bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, live entertainment venues and special events, and is retained by attorneys representing plaintiffs and defendants. In Connecticut matters he evaluates hospitality and venue operations, alcohol service and overservice, bar and nightclub operations, restaurant operations and management, security operations and negligent security, premises liability, event management, event security, event and stage safety, and surveillance video analysis. The governing framework in Connecticut is Conn. Gen. Stat. § 30-102. His opinions address operational standards — staffing, training, supervision, policy and procedure — and do not extend to engineering, toxicology or medical causation.
Connecticut Law
Statutory cap and a short notice window
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 30-102 — the Connecticut Dram Shop Act — makes a permittee who sells alcohol to an intoxicated person liable for injury to person or property caused by that person.
Two features dominate Connecticut practice. Damages are capped at $250,000 in the aggregate for all injured parties arising from a single occurrence. And notice of intention to bring a Dram Shop Act claim must be given within 120 days of the occurrence — extended to 180 days where the aggrieved person has died or is incapacitated.
The statute does not provide a remedy to the intoxicated person for their own injuries, and it is a strict-liability-style scheme rather than a negligence one. The short notice window makes early evidence preservation decisive: surveillance at most Connecticut licensed premises is overwritten well inside 120 days.
Statutes and regulatory schemes change, and this is not legal advice. Citations were verified against the state code or controlling decision and the named regulator at the time of writing; counsel should confirm the provision current to the date of loss. Ryan offers opinions on operational standards, not on the law itself.
Hospitality Context
Connecticut Venues and Operations
Connecticut's licensed trade includes the two large tribal casino-resort operations at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, New Haven and Hartford restaurant and bar districts, shoreline seasonal venues, and university-adjacent operations — a mix where casino-floor service standards sit alongside small-operator taverns.
Evidence
What Ryan Reviews in a Connecticut Matter
- Service and POS records correlated into an operational timeline.
- Surveillance video across the service period, reviewed for observable indicators and reconciled against records and testimony.
- Training and certification records for the staff actually on shift, measured against the state's server-training scheme.
- Written policy and procedure — and whether practice matched the document.
- Staffing, supervision and deployment at the relevant time, including security posts and ratios against actual occupancy.
- Incident reports and prior-incident history bearing on foreseeability.
Scope
Areas Ryan May Be Retained On in Connecticut
Where relevant to the matter. Ryan is retained by attorneys representing plaintiffs and defendants; opinions follow the facts and the applicable standard of care, not the retaining party.
Hospitality
- Hospitality operations
- Hospitality management
- Venue operations
- Hotel operations
- Management practices
- Policies and procedures
- Employee training
- Operational standards
Alcohol service
- Dram shop
- Liquor liability
- Alcohol service
- Alcohol overservice
- Responsible beverage service
- Alcohol service to minors
Bar, nightclub & restaurant
- Bar operations
- Bar management
- Nightclub operations
- Nightclub management
- Restaurant operations
- Restaurant management
- Beverage operations
Security
- Security operations
- Bar security
- Nightclub security
- Event security
- Negligent security
- Crowd management
- Crowd control
Premises & events
- Premises liability
- Event management
- Event operations
- Event safety
- Event & stage safety
- Special event management
Analysis
- Surveillance video analysis
- Surveillance video compilation
- Incident timeline analysis
- Standard of care review
Availability
Connecticut Engagements
Available for Connecticut engagements
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts expert-witness engagements in Connecticut and in all 50 states. His CV documents engagements in nine jurisdictions — Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Illinois, Utah, Washington, California, New York and Kentucky. Where a state is not among those, it means no engagement there is publicly disclosed in the CV; it does not limit availability, and the operational standards at issue in hospitality and entertainment litigation do not change at a state line. What changes is the cause of action available and the evidence that proves it.
Questions
Connecticut — Common Questions from Counsel
How long do you have to give notice of a Connecticut dram shop claim?
Are Connecticut dram shop damages capped?
Does casino-floor service raise different operational questions?
Connecticut Matter Under Review?
Submit a case inquiry for a confidential conflicts check and evaluation. Ryan responds to all inquiries within one business day.