A person can become intoxicated any number of ways. They could be sitting at home and drinking too much or they could be out with friends and they make a bad decision to get in the car and drive. Sometimes it is a result of being at a bar or a place that serves liquor, a restaurant, and they become obviously intoxicated to the staff yet the staff continues to serve them alcohol. If that person on the way home or wherever they are going is involved in an automobile accident that is a result of their being intoxicated, under dram shop theory liability, there can be a claim pursued against the bar or the restaurant that continued to serve this person when they should not have been serving them. Dram shop theory liability is the series of laws that governs establishments that sell alcoholic beverages to the public in order to try and keep people safe. These laws make it so the establishment, whether it be a bar or club, is liable in the event of an alcohol-related injury or death to a person who was not at the establishment, but only if they served alcohol to someone who was already visibly intoxicated.
Each state has its own variation of the Dram Shop Laws. In New York, the law states that an intoxicated person who injures themselves may not sue the establishment where they got intoxicated. However, in the event that this person dies as a result of someone’s intoxication, their child may bring a lawsuit against the establishment. In New York, there are a number of factors that must be considered in the event that a lawsuit may be brought against an establishment that serves alcohol. The first being that the person who was injured must prove their that injuries were acquired as a result of the intoxication of another person. They must also prove that the establishment was the location that served alcohol to the person who was intoxicated and that they contributed to the intoxication of that person by continuing to serve them alcohol.
If you are in need of legal counsel in regards to a personal injury in New York, please contact The Law Offices of Jonathan D. Sands and we would be happy to assist you.