People injured in DUI cases often sustain life-changing injuries. Frequently, these injuries mean the victims will require expensive medical attention, either for a short period of time or for the rest of their lives. Of course, individual drunk drivers may not have the resources to fully compensate victims in these situations.
This leads many to ask whether those responsible for allowing the individual to become intoxicated and then get behind the wheel of a car might have some responsibility for the injuries? Can bars and clubs legally be held liable for the actions of their patrons once they leave? Can these businesses serve to deepen the pocket of the responsible party in order to better compensate accident victim for injuries that were not their fault?
In short, the answer in many states is “yes.” Many states have laws that allow injured people to sue commercial vendors of alcohol (such as bars, clubs, liquor stores, etc.) for the injuries they suffer as a result of that establishment's drunken patrons' actions. The drunk person generally cannot sue for damages or injuries he or she received, personally, but those that the drunk person injured certainly can. These laws fill a need to cover situations where an individual's own insurance and personal assets may not be sufficient to pay for the injuries he or she caused while intoxicated.
To take advantage of these laws, often called “dram shop laws,' one must prove that the serving of alcohol by the commercial entity was the proximate cause of the victim's injuries. In other words, the victim must show that a causal connection exists between the injury sustained and the commercial alcohol vendor's actions of serving alcohol to the drunk person and then allowing him or her to leave without supervision.
States that follow dram shop laws generally require that, in order to state a cause of action for liability against the commercial alcohol vendor, special circumstances must exist. It is not enough that the establishment served alcohol, the drunk person visited, and then caused an injury. Rather, the vendor must have done something more directly related to the injury, usually by violating another law. For example:
The vendor served alcohol to a minor that then caused the injury.
The vendor was reckless in serving the alcohol or should have realized that the patron was becoming intoxicated and stopped serving them.
The vendor continued serving alcohol after locally mandated closing hours or after the establishment officially closed for business.
The vendor lacked a proper license to serve alcohol.
Of course, the test for determining whether a particular action is so egregious as to have been the proximate cause of a drunken car accident by a vendor's patron is a bit unclear and varies from one jurisdiction to another. Furthermore, whether a person's level of intoxication can reasonably be ascertained by a vendor's employees such that an injury resulting from that person's actions could be described as foreseeable is heavily dependent on the circumstances. These factors often depend on far more than just how many drinks a person had, but also how they behaved while in the bar or club, who they were with, whether they indicated having a driver, and many other considerations.
Thus, proving liability against an alcohol vendor is no easy task, and one that deserves the attention of an experienced attorney. Fortunately, these sorts of cases usually earn the classification of “personal injury,” and attorneys that specialize in personal injury and accident law will be happy to help you. Most of these attorneys operate on what is known as a “contingency fee” basis, meaning they do not get paid until they make a recovery for you (and even then, they are paid out of the proceeds of the recovery). This helps accident victims, already suffering with the burden of mounting medical expenses and other debt, to obtain the representation they need for such a complex legal matter. To find an attorney in your area, simply visit the attorney search feature on HG.org and use it to locate a professional by location and practice area.
