People who drink too much alcohol and then have accidents will now have less of a basis to sue, according to Sydney lawyer Louise Edmondson.

Ms Edmondson, a senior associate with national law firm Hunt & Hunt, says people who are injured as a result of their diminished capabilities through intoxication can no longer regard hoteliers, hosts or other alcohol providers as “soft targets”.

A recent ruling by the NSW Court of Appeal has overturned the notion that alcohol providers have a duty of care to protect people from “deliberately and voluntarily becoming intoxicated”. The decision to which she refers stems from a case involving a woman who sued a rugby club over injuries she suffered from being struck by a car on her way home after heavy drinking.

The Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s decision that the club had been negligent and should pay some of the injured woman’s damages. It ruled that the “voluntary act of drinking until intoxicated is to be regarded as a deliberate act for which the person should carry personal responsibility in law”.

The court found that in this case the club’s duty of care did not extend to stop serving alcohol to the woman. It said a duty of care would only apply to alcohol providers in “extraordinary” circumstances.

Ms Edmondson said the decision is “a major victory for commonsense. This ruling comes at a time when this passing of the buck has helped push up insurance premiums and contributed to the insurance crisis.”