Would there be drinking at this work dinner?

Since it is a short dinner, I wouldn't be surprised if a few folks had one drink.

I think most might have a glass of wine or a beer or cocktail. I wouldn't expect people driving themselves to have more than that, but maybe they have someone driving them?

Is there a reason you're concerned about company liability over a dinner?

Yes I would expect drinking.
One drink for myself would be fine.

We recently had a work event and they provided transportation so that anyone who wanted could have a drink. But honestly I don't think I really saw anyone have more than 1 maybe 2 and we were there (at my bosses house) for about 3 hours and had a meal.

I would be comfortable having 2 drinks in that timeframe WITH dinner. If the company is concerned with liability, they should be asking their employees to drink and drive responsibly for this event or make plans for a ride home if they need one. My co-workers are a mix of drinkers and non-drinkers and we made plans for non-drinkers to be the sober driver for those of us that live around each other a couple of times (golf events or client outings). In reality, we mostly nixed our department after-hours drinking events as a number of us drive company cars, and it was a bigger liability concern. That was totally fine with me and I understand it, even though I'm a social drinker.

Also, unless you own the company or are their corporate coumsel, you dont need to be worried about what the company allows

I would be leery to have alcohol at any company function. Sister's work had company pic-nic, they paid for the alcohol. Employee drove home, accidnet, killed and lawsuit. With that, I always wondered how companies can do that knowing its a big risk for a lawsuit.

can you post a link for this case?

I worked at a bank for 8 years between the mid 80’s and early 90’s where they always had an open bar for at least a couple hours during their award night banquets and after that it would be a cash bar. Some people would just get trashed. At some point that all suddenly changed and they started giving everyone two drink tickets each for those events. I never used mine, I would always just give them away to whoever wanted them. They’d always hold these events at some country club place on the far flung side of the metro area an hour or more away from where I lived. I didn’t even like to have to drive home in the dark from an unfamiliar place in the dead of night sober, much less after tipping a few especially in the days before GPS and cell phones. I always thought any drinking under those circumstances was a very bad idea.

This exactly.

I would have a glass of wine or possibly 2.

Your question asks ‘would’ there be drinking as opposed to ‘should’ there be drinking. Your company needs to realize that they have to address wether they allow it or not because there are some who will if not told not to.

If your company doesn’t say no there will be drinking ( in my experience ) If your company pays for the drinks it definitely adds to their liability. If it is a required function and an employees only way to get there is carpool then you’ve increased your culpability there as well if the driver drinks.

Can ‘some’ people have 1 glass of wine safely with dinner - yes, depending on various factors: gender, height, weight, metabolism, timing, etc, but not all people can. And how do you tell the difference?

If it were my company I’d say there will not be drinking at this event.