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North Dakota · Obviously intoxicated — knowing service
North Dakota Dram Shop & Hospitality Expert Witness
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts hospitality and entertainment expert-witness engagements in North Dakota. 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 North Dakota. 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 North Dakota 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 North Dakota is N.D. Cent. Code § 5-01-06.1. His opinions address operational standards — staffing, training, supervision, policy and procedure — and do not extend to engineering, toxicology or medical causation.
North Dakota Law
Obviously intoxicated — knowing service
N.D. Cent. Code § 5-01-06.1 gives a person injured by an obviously intoxicated person a claim for relief against anyone who knowingly sold, disposed of or gave away alcohol to a person under 21, to an incompetent person, or to a person who was obviously intoxicated.
The knowingly element and the obviously intoxicated standard work together: the claim is about what the server actually knew about a condition that was apparent. Constructive knowledge of a subtle condition is not the target; an apparent condition that staff served through is.
North Dakota's inclusion of an incompetent person alongside minors and the obviously intoxicated is unusual and occasionally relevant where a patron's capacity was impaired by something other than the alcohol served.
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
North Dakota Venues and Operations
North Dakota's licensed trade includes Fargo's downtown Broadway district, Bismarck and Grand Forks bar and restaurant operations, and a distinctive oil-field service-town trade in the west where transient workforce populations and late-hours operations shape the venue mix.
Evidence
What Ryan Reviews in a North Dakota 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 North Dakota
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
North Dakota Engagements
Available for North Dakota engagements
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts expert-witness engagements in North Dakota 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
North Dakota — Common Questions from Counsel
What must be shown under North Dakota's statute?
Who is covered besides minors and intoxicated patrons?
What operational evidence matters most?
North Dakota Matter Under Review?
Submit a case inquiry for a confidential conflicts check and evaluation. Ryan responds to all inquiries within one business day.