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Indiana · Actual knowledge required
Indiana Dram Shop & Bar Operations Expert Witness
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts hospitality and entertainment expert-witness engagements in Indiana. 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 Indiana. 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 Indiana 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 Indiana is Ind. Code § 7.1-5-10-15.5. His opinions address operational standards — staffing, training, supervision, policy and procedure — and do not extend to engineering, toxicology or medical causation.
Indiana Law
Actual knowledge required
Indiana's dram shop provision is Ind. Code § 7.1-5-10-15.5. Liability arises where the person furnishing the alcohol had actual knowledge that the person served was visibly intoxicated, and that intoxication was a proximate cause of the resulting injury.
Actual knowledge is the distinguishing feature. Indiana does not accept a constructive-knowledge theory — the question is what the server or the establishment actually knew, not what a reasonable server in that position should have realised.
That evidential demand shifts the case onto records and observable conduct: a documented tab showing repeated service, video showing the patron's condition at the point of sale, a refusal that was later reversed, a manager who was told, or a server's own account. It is an unusually operational standard, and cases are frequently won or lost on how well the venue's own systems documented what staff saw.
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
Indiana Venues and Operations
Indiana's licensed trade includes Indianapolis's Broad Ripple and downtown districts, a very large event hospitality operation around the Motor Speedway and convention calendar, Bloomington's college bar corridor, and Lake Michigan casino properties in the northwest of the state.
Evidence
What Ryan Reviews in a Indiana 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 Indiana
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
Indiana Engagements
Available for Indiana engagements
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts expert-witness engagements in Indiana 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
Indiana — Common Questions from Counsel
Why is Indiana's standard harder to meet than most states'?
How is actual knowledge established in practice?
Do Indiana server permits matter evidentially?
Indiana Matter Under Review?
Submit a case inquiry for a confidential conflicts check and evaluation. Ryan responds to all inquiries within one business day.