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Vermont · Dram Shop Act, revised 2023
Vermont Dram Shop & Hospitality Expert Witness
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts hospitality and entertainment expert-witness engagements in Vermont. 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 Vermont. 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 Vermont 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 Vermont is 7 V.S.A. § 501. His opinions address operational standards — staffing, training, supervision, policy and procedure — and do not extend to engineering, toxicology or medical causation.
Vermont Law
Dram Shop Act, revised 2023
Vermont's Dram Shop Act is 7 V.S.A. § 501, revised in 2023. It gives an injured person a right of action against a liquor licensee who caused the intoxication of the person who caused the harm.
The revised provision frames liability around service to a minor or service after legal serving hours as routes to establishing that the licensee caused the intoxication. Because the 2023 revision changed the architecture, older secondary sources describing Vermont's scheme should be treated with care.
Vermont's serving-hours limb is operationally distinctive. It makes the venue's closing procedures, last-call practice, POS timestamps and door control directly probative — questions of clock discipline rather than of behavioural observation.
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
Vermont Venues and Operations
Vermont's licensed trade includes Burlington's Church Street and college-adjacent bars, Stowe, Killington and Sugarbush ski-resort food and beverage with pronounced après-ski service patterns, and a large seasonal brewery, wedding and event sector.
Evidence
What Ryan Reviews in a Vermont 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 Vermont
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
Vermont Engagements
Available for Vermont engagements
Ryan Dahlstrom accepts expert-witness engagements in Vermont 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
Vermont — Common Questions from Counsel
What changed in Vermont's Dram Shop Act?
Why do serving hours matter in Vermont?
What is distinctive about après-ski service?
Vermont Matter Under Review?
Submit a case inquiry for a confidential conflicts check and evaluation. Ryan responds to all inquiries within one business day.