In the most recent numbers available, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that there are 34 people killed in drunk-driving crashes daily, approximately one death every 42 minutes. While it’s possible for drivers to drink at home before they get behind the wheel, an important factor in some crashes involving impaired drivers includes establishments like bars, restaurants, breweries, wineries, or anywhere that serves alcohol to the public. Stores and other businesses can be held liable for a drunk driver’s crash, meaning they share fault for the damages caused in a car crash. These businesses have a responsibility to protect the public from some drivers’ bad decisions. If you were hurt by an impaired driver who was served too much alcohol, you need to contact a Lancaster car accident attorney to protect your claim and pursue the compensation you deserve.
What Are Dram Shop Laws?
In Pennsylvania, it is unlawful for a bar to serve alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person. A bar who serves alcohol to a visibly intoxicated individual, who then causes harm to another, may be responsible for the harm caused. Known as Dram Shop Laws, they were intended to protect the community from bar customers being overserved and either injuring themselves or others in the community while intoxicated, whether it is behind the wheel of an automobile, in a fight with another individual or any harm to another caused by their alcohol-impaired state.
What Happens if a Bar Overserves a Patron?
If a bar serves alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person and that person harms himself or someone else, under Pennsylvania law the bar may be responsible for all of the harms and losses caused. Under Pennsylvania Law, this is commonly referred to as a Dram Shop Action.
A Pennsylvania statute (Dram Shop Act) makes a business, which sells alcoholic drinks, serves liquor to a drinker who is visibly intoxicated or close to it, liable to anyone injured by the drunken individual. It is important to note that this law does not just apply to bars, but to any business with a liquor license that serves alcohol. This becomes increasingly important nowadays, as facilities like grocery stores, convenience stores, and other businesses now serve alcohol, yet may not have alcohol safety policies in place to monitor how much any one individual has been drinking.
Also, injuries caused by drinking and driving are entirely preventable when people make the correct safety choices. However, one of the purposes of the law, recognizes that drunken individuals do not always make the safest choices, and it’s the bar who makes money from selling alcohol who needs to make safe and responsible choices as part of its alcohol safety management plan to prevent harm and protect the public.
Why Is Overserving Alcohol Dangerous?
Alcohol can affect a driver’s reaction times. While the legal Blood Alochol Content limit is 0.08%, most drivers can experience adverse effects of alcohol at just 0.02, when they may experience delayed reaction times or a decline in their ability to make decisions.
When you are driving a car or other piece of heavy machinery, it is critical that you are operating at your best. When stores allow an obviously intoxicated or impaired person to leave their establishment with more alcohol in hand or a bar serves a clearly drunk person more alcohol, they are just increasing the odds that a severe crash could happen. In many instances, a drunk driver will be able to walk away from a crash. Sober drivers often do not get that chance. Bars, restaurants, and stores need to be held accountable when they contribute to a drunk driver’s likelihood to cause an accident.
What Happens if I am Hit by a Drunk Driver who was Overserved?
When you are injured in a crash by a negligent driver, sober or otherwise, you have the opportunity to file a claim for serious injuries or pursue other damages. When a driver was overserved at a bar, store, or restaurant, you can also file a claim against them under Penssylvania’s Dram Shop laws. They can be held responsible for their “participation” in the driver’s decision to get behind the wheel while extremely inebriated or impaired. A car accident attorney from Atlee Hall will help you handle your claim, filing the appropriate motions to pursue the damages you need to recover. Their investigation of your accident will include checking into the events leading up to your crash. If a driver was drinking at a bar beforehand, your attorney will investigate their involvement, searching for evidence that clearly shows a driver was overserved and that the bartender should have stopped serving them.
These cases can be complex, especially if a server argues they could not tell the at-fault driver was inebriated before they left the bar. Your attorney will be critical in holding them accountable, pursuing evidence to prove wrongdoing.
Contact a Lancaster County Dram Shop Lawyer Now
The safety lawyers at Atlee Hall have made it one of their goals to enforce the alcohol safety and liquor liability (Dram Shop) laws and hold those who violate them accountable and responsible for the harms and losses caused, when bars over-serve visibly intoxicated individuals or when people who have been drinking get behind the wheel of an automobile and injure others in our community.
