This diversity case involves a tragic accident which is not susceptible to the legal remedy that the plaintiffs-appellants seek in this action. They suffered injuries and losses as a result of Roberto Madruga’s decision to drive while intoxicated. However, they are pursuing claims not against Madruga but against the bar that served him, and the hotel that housed that bar. As a federal court with diversity jurisdiction, we are bound to follow the law as articulated by the state courts, and we find that Massachusetts does not presently recognize the theories of liability asserted by plaintiffs. We, therefore, must affirm the district court’s entry of summary judgment for defendants.
I.
A. Factual Background
Plaintiffs, husband Thai Minh Chinh and wife Phoung Luc, were driving to their home in Concord, New Hampshire, late at night on July 21, 2002. Luc was four months pregnant with their first child and needed to exit the car; Chinh, who was driving, pulled the car into the break-down lane and came to a stop. Luc unfastened her seatbelt and opened the passenger-side door. At that moment, their car was hit from behind by a truck driven by Ma-druga. The plaintiffs’ car turned upside down and both Luc and Chinh were hurt. Among other injuries, Luc suffered a miscarriage.
At the time of the accident, Madruga was driving the truck, which belonged to his cousin, Helio Demelo, because Demelo was too intoxicated to drive. The pair, along with Demelo’s girlfriend, had spent the evening at a Boston nightclub, the Roxy, which occupied the second floor of the Tremont Hotel. While at the Roxy, Madruga drank three mixed drinks, each of which had at least two shots of liquor, and one bottle of water. The group left the club shortly before 2:00 a.m., and Ma-druga began driving them home. After getting onto Interstate 93, northbound, Madruga set the cruise control and apparently fell asleep or otherwise stopped paying attention to the road. The vehicle drifted into the break-down lane and rear-ended the plaintiffs at a speed of about sixty miles per hour.
The Massachusetts State Police quickly arrived at the accident scene, where Ma-druga failed a number of field sobriety tests, including a breathalyzer test. He was arrested for driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
The plaintiffs were taken to the hospital. Chinh’s injuries were relatively minor, but Luc suffered serious injuries and was hospitalized for more than seventy days.
B. Procedural History
Plaintiffs filed this case in the district court, based on complete diversity of the parties and an amount in controversy in excess of $75,000. Plaintiffs originally sued both Madruga and Demelo, as well as the numerous corporate and business entities that owned or operated the Roxy and the Hotel. 1 Madruga and Demelo were *88 subsequently dismissed from the case. The Roxy moved to dismiss one of the claims against it 2 and the Hotel moved to dismiss all thirteen claims against it. The Roxy argued that Massachusetts does not recognize the claim asserted by plaintiffs based on the Roxy’s “method of operations.” The Hotel argued that Massachusetts recognized no claims under which it could be held liable for the Roxy’s serving of alcohol to Madruga. After a hearing, the district court granted the Roxy’s motion and part of the Hotel’s motion, leaving two claims against the Hotel intact, but dismissing eleven others. After discovery, both defendants moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted.
Plaintiffs appealed the dismissal of the “method of operations” claim against the Roxy and four claims against the Hotel. 3
II.
A. Standard of Review
We review the district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim de novo, while “taking as true the well-pleaded facts contained in the complaint and drawing all reasonable inferences therefrom in the plaintiffs favor.”
Garrett v. Tandy Corp.,
Also, as a federal court considering state law claims, we must apply the state’s law on substantive issues and “we are bound by the teachings of the state’s highest court.”
N. Am. Specialty Ins. Co. v. Lapalme,
B. Claim Against the Roxy
Plaintiffs have appealed the dismissal of their so-called “method of operation” claim, wherein they urge us to recognize a new theory of liability for bar or tavern owners. We first survey the applicable Massachusetts tort liability law and then analyze how this novel claim might fit within existing law.
In 1968, the SJC held that a person injured in a car accident, caused by an intoxicated driver, could have a cause of action against the owner of the bar where that driver was served.
Adamian v. Three Sons, Inc.,
Thus, a plaintiff who shows that the patron in question was actually intoxicated has not done enough to establish liability. The evidence must also show that the intoxication was
apparent,
or should have been apparent, to the server prior to service of the last alcoholic drink.
Id.
Where a patron “was exhibiting signs of intoxication before.he or she was served a last alcoholic drink (or drinks),”
id.,
there is circumstantial evidence of the tavern owner’s knowledge that he was serving an already-intoxicated person. This type of circumstantial evidence enables plaintiffs to carry their burden without the difficulty of providing direct evidence of the tavern keeper’s knowledge.
See, e.g., Makynen v. Mustakangas,
The plaintiffs seek to offer a different type of circumstantial evidence to show that the bar knew, or should have known, that it was serving intoxicated patrons, thereby creating foreseeable risks to those patrons and third parties. They contend *90 that the Roxy’s “method of operation” provides a basis for inferring such knowledge. They emphasize that the Roxy was managed in a way that ensured maximum alcohol sales with minimal knowledge on the part of the bartenders and waiters about the level of intoxication of any particular patron. They point to the low ratio of servers to customers (one server for every sixty customers), the atmosphere (dark, loud, and crowded), and the availability of alcoholic beverages from multiple sales points. A given customer could purchase a drink from any of the sixteen bartenders or six wait staff, and could purchase different drinks from each of these servers throughout the evening. Thus, plaintiffs allege, it is possible for a patron to become heavily intoxicated without a single server having sold that person more than one drink, and, consequently, without realizing the risk of over-serving that patron.
Furthermore, the plaintiffs claim that this situation is exacerbated by the inability of Roxy servers to implement the good serving practices taught at their training sessions. The Roxy required each server to take a course called “Training for Intervention Procedures,” (“TIPS”) which is designed to decrease the likelihood of over-serving customers by teaching servers about visual cues of intoxication, controlling customers’ rate of consumption, keeping track of the strength of drinks served, and advising customers to order food while drinking. The plaintiffs allege that Roxy’s wait staff could not possibly apply the procedures taught during TIPS training because there were too many customers for each server and the atmosphere made it difficult for a server to observe a given customer’s behavior.
The plaintiffs also contend that the Roxy had notice of its allegedly dangerous practices because of numerous past incidents involving negligent or criminal activity by Roxy patrons. For example, the plaintiffs note that Massachusetts notified the Roxy whenever someone was convicted of driving while intoxicated and informed the police that they received their alcohol from the Roxy. There were five such reports during the five months prior to the plaintiffs’ car accident.
Based on the police reports and other evidence that its patrons sometimes became excessively intoxicated, the plaintiffs claim that the Roxy’s method of operation created sufficient notice of the likely risks that intoxicated persons purchasing alcoholic drinks at their premises would harm themselves or others. Therefore, to prevent the bar’s size, commercial structure, and atmosphere from sheltering it from liability for the negligent driving of one of its patrons, they ask us to reverse the district court’s dismissal and reinstate the method of operation claim against the Roxy.
Massachusetts courts have not yet recognized the theory of liability proposed by the plaintiffs.
5
The case of
Tobin v. Nor
*91
wood Country Club, Inc.,
In cases involving minors, the critical fact is the service of alcohol to an under-aged person. Such service itself can be the basis for liability. In cases involving adults, a plaintiff must show both service and knowledge of the patron’s intoxication. Tobin says nothing about use of a “method of operation” as circumstantial evidence of the tavern keeper’s knowledge of an adult customer’s intoxication.
Whatever the force of plaintiffs’ “method of operation” theory of liability (and we make no judgment about it), our role as a federal court hearing a state law claim is circumscribed. The plaintiffs may be correct that Massachusetts would want to prevent the sort of commercial behavior engaged in by the Roxy. Thus far, however, the state courts have repeatedly reaffirmed the rule originally articulated in Adamian: a defendant tavern owner may not be liable unless his tavern served a patron who was already visibly intoxicated, and hence the tavern owner knew or had reason to know of the risk involved in such service. Any alterations to this rule must come from either the Massachusetts legislature or the state courts. We are, therefore, compelled to affirm the district court’s dismissal of the method of operations claim against the Roxy.
C. Claims Against the Hotel
The district court dismissed four claims against the Hotel, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), for failure to state a cognizable claim. These claims sought to impose primary liability on the Tremont Hotel based on general principles of tort law, including three provisions in the Restatement (Second) of Torts and principles of negligent entrustment and negligent supervision. Plaintiffs reassert these generalized principles on appeal and request that we reinstate the four claims, despite the absence of any Massachusetts cases recognizing these theories of liability in similar circumstances. We briefly summarize each of the four claims, as well as the most closely related Massachusetts case law. We then address the viability of the four claims collectively, which suffer from a common flaw.
Plaintiffs’ first and fourth claims against the Hotel are premised on the theory that a lessor may be responsible for the negligent actions of his tenant, if the lessor was aware of the tenant’s use of the property and the risks associated with that use. In support of this theory, plaintiffs point to § 379A of the Restatement 6 , *92 which describes claims against lessors based on the actions of their lessees, and to the doctrine of negligent entrustment 7 , which applies generally to owners of personal property, although they have not identified any Massachusetts cases that support this theory of liability.
Plaintiffs argue that the Hotel can be held liable under this theory because the Hotel knew, at the time the lease was signed, that the Roxy would sente alcohol and had grounds to know that there would be an unreasonable risk of over-serving patrons. More specifically, plaintiffs point to a diagram of the Roxy’s layout and the nature of the business. They also note that after the Roxy opened, and during the course of its nearly twenty-year existence, the Hotel received reports from the owners of the Roxy about various incidents that were investigated or responded to by the police. Additionally, plaintiffs cite the lease agreement as evidence of the Hotel’s knowledge that the Roxy’s operations would create a risk of over-service. The lease required the Roxy to comply with its liquor license, to obtain liquor liability insurance, to indemnify the Hotel for any liability resulting from the sale of alcohol at the Roxy, and to notify the Hotel of any liquor license (or other legal) violations by the Roxy. The Hotel also reserved the right to inspect the premises, to approve the floor plan for the Roxy, to impose rules and regulations on the Roxy, and to evict the Roxy if problems arose which were not rectified. According to the plaintiffs, all of these lease provisions, taken together, show that the Hotel was aware of the risks created by the Roxy’s alcohol sales.
Plaintiffs’ second and third claims against the Hotel are based on their related theory that the Hotel exercised control over the Roxy’s business practices, and thus can be held independently liable for the risks created by those practices. Here, they point to § 315
8
and § 318
9
of
*93
the Restatement, which deal with “special relationships” between a defendant and a third party. Plaintiffs note that these Restatement provisions have been recognized as describing viable claims in Massachusetts.
See, e.g., Medina v. Pillemer,
No. 04-0290-H,
Whatever the merits abstractly of these theories of liability against the Hotel, they fail in this case because each of them requires a showing that the Roxy behaved in an unreasonably risky or negligent manner. Restatement § 379A states that a landlord may only be liable if he knew, or had reason to know, that the tenant’s activities would “unavoidably involve such an unreasonable risk.” Similarly, § 315 of the Restatement provides for liability when an actor has a “special relationship” with another, which “imposes a duty upon the actor” to prevent the third person from “causing physical harm” to others. (Although § 315 does not expressly require a showing that the third party was negligent, such a requirement is implicit, and has been recognized by Massachusetts courts. See infra.) Section 318 of the Restatement provides for liability for landowners who allow others to use their land for activities that “create an unreasonable risk of bodily harm” to third persons. Finally, as to its negligent entrustment and supervision claims, the plaintiffs themselves allege that a landlord’s duty is to “reasonably mitigate or reduce the foreseeable risk of harm” caused or created by “a pattern of inappropriate, negligent conduct.” Each of these theories, then, requires not only that the defendant either controls or has a “special relationship” with the third-party actor (e.g., the Roxy), but also that the third-party actor behaved in an unreasonably risky manner. As we explained above, Massachusetts courts have unequivocally stated that a tavern-keeper does not create an unreasonable risk to patrons or others unless he serves alcohol to a patron who is visibly intoxicated. Therefore, without any such evidence (and there is none in this case), the plaintiffs have not, and cannot, show that the Roxy engaged in the requisite unreasonably risky behavior that would create the possibility of the Hotel’s liability. 10
*94
A closer look at a valid § 315 claim demonstrates the necessity of identifying negligent or wrongful behavior by the third party.
11
In presenting their § 315 claim (involving a special relationship between an actor (the Hotel) and a third party (the Roxy)), the plaintiffs cite to
Davis,
In an effort to avoid this conclusion, plaintiffs rely on two
cases
—Krueger
v. Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, Inc.,
No. 004292G,
In
Jean W.,
the “special relationship” that had not previously been recognized was one of physical custody or control over a person.
Here, although the Hotel had some ability to influence the Roxy’s actions, it did not remotely have the kind of control over the Roxy that the Commonwealth in Jean W. had over a prisoner in its custody. The SJC’s willingness to acknowledge the possibility of a cause of action in that case does not permit us to go beyond the boundaries of existing state law here.
III.
Plaintiffs have also asked that we certify the questions raised in this appeal to the Massachusetts SJC, giving that court the opportunity to evaluate whether the alleged causes of action are viable. We preliminarily denied their request prior to oral argument, but reserved the possibility of reconsideration.
We now decline to certify any of the legal questions raised in this case to the SJC. The claims raised here should be raised in the state courts in the first instance.
Venezia v. Miller Brewing Co.,
Furthermore, as to the Hotel, we have held that even if a viable theory of liability existed, those claims must fail without a plausible allegation of negligence- against the Roxy. Certification would be especially inappropriate where the legal question was effectively mooted by a factual defect in the plaintiffs’ case.
IV.
For the reasons explained above, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of claims against both the Roxy and the Hotel. The plaintiffs’ motion to certify questions to the SJC is denied.
So ordered.
Notes
. The Hotel and the Roxy are separate businesses, owned by different companies. The Hotel defendants include Wyndham International, Inc., Wyndham Management Corp., CHC Lease Partners, Wyndham International Operating Partnership, Patriot American Hos *88 pitality Partnership, Patriot American Hospitality, Inc., Patriot American Hospitality Operating Co., and Patriot American Hospitality General Partnership. The Roxy is owned and operated by the Boston Ballroom Corporation.
. The second claim against the Roxy was based on a traditional theory of negligence, often referred to as "dram shop liability.” Under this theory, a bar or tavern may be liable for the wrongful or injurious actions of a patron if it served alcohol to that patron after it knew, or should have known, that the patron was already intoxicated.
Adamian v. Three Sons, Inc.,
. After considering the Hotel’s motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the district court allowed two claims against the Hotel to proceed. These were both agency claims alleging that the Roxy functioned as an agent of the Hotel, and that the Hotel could be held vicariously liable for its agent’s actions. Those claims were later dismissed in response to the Hotel's motion for summary judgment. The agency claims are not at issue in this appeal; thus, all four claims at issue here were dismissed pursuant to a 12(b)(6) motion.
. Massachusetts courts have applied the same rule to "social hosts." When a private person invites others into his or her home, the host may be liable for the negligence of a guest only if the host "has served or provided liquor to an intoxicated guest.”
Ulwick v. DeChris-topher,
. Plaintiffs have submitted a letter pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(j) citing a recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in support of their theory of liability. In
Sheehan v. Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc.,
. Section 379A of the Restatement of Torts states:
A lessor of land is subject to liability for physical harm to persons outside of the *92 land caused by activities of the lessee or others on the land after the lessor transfers possession if, but only if,
(a) the lessor at the time of the lease consented to such activity or knew that it would be carried on, and
(b) the lessor knew or had reason to know that it would unavoidably involve such an unreasonable risk, or that special precautions necessary to safety would not be taken.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 379A (1965).
. In Massachusetts, the common law doctrine of negligent entrustment (and its related theory of negligent supervision) has been used primarily in cases involving dangerous instru-mentalities, such as cars and weapons. In such cases, the elements of negligent entrustment are: control over the instrumentality, entrustment of (or permission to use) the instrumentality to another, and knowledge that the other is incompetent or incapable of using the instrumentality with due care.
Miranda v. Anderson,
No. BACV 2005140,
. Section 315 of the Restatement of Torts states:
There is no duty to control the conduct of a third person [e.g., the Roxy] as to prevent him from causing physical harm to another [e.g., plaintiffs] unless
(a) a special relation exists between the actor [e.g., the Hotel] and the third person [e.g., the Roxy] which imposes a duty upon the actor to control the third person’s conduct, or
(b) a special relation exists between the actor and the other which gives to the other a right to protection.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 315 (1965).
.Section 318 of the Restatement of Torts states:
If the actor [e.g., the Hotel] permits a third person [e.g., the Roxy] to use land or chattels in his possession otherwise than as a servant, he [the Hotel] is, if present, under a duty to exercise reasonable care so to control the conduct of the third person [the Roxy] as to prevent him from intentionally harming others [the plaintiffs] or from so conducting himself as to create an unreasonable risk of bodily harm to them, if the actor [the Hotel]
*93 (a) knows or has reason to know that he has the ability to control the third person [the Roxy], and
(b) knows or should know of the necessity and opportunity for exercising such control.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 318 (1965).
. As noted above,
see supra
note 3, the plaintiffs are not pursuing on appeal a claim of vicarious liability, which would require evidence of an agency (or master-servant) relationship between the Hotel and the Roxy. In a vicarious liability claim, the third party acts on behalf of, or under the direction of, the defendant.
See Kansallis Fin. Ltd. v. Fern,
. We use the § 315 claim as our example because it is the only theory of liability which does not explicitly require a demonstration that the third party behaved negligently or in an unreasonably risky manner. As our discussion illustrates, even without that express requirement, Massachusetts courts have construed this theory of liability to require such a showing.
. Plaintiffs also rely on
Tobin,