Can a Business be Responsible for Serving a Drunk Driver Who Causes a Car Crash?
Can a Business be Responsible for Serving a Drunk Driver Who Causes a Car Crash?
A major contributor to car accidents is alcohol intoxication. Individuals who drive drunk pose a safety risk for others on the road. Everyone knows that driving drunk is dangerous.
When individuals are drunk, they may lack awareness and judgment. Those same individuals may be less inhibited causing them to undertake riskier behavior. This is a recipe for disaster.
How Alcohol Impacts Driving Ability
Alcohol affects brain function and coordination. As someone becomes more intoxicated the greater effect alcohol has on these abilities and the central nervous system. A person who is intoxicated has slower reaction times, difficulty with balance and impaired mental processing.
This means that a drunk individual is usually less alert and slower to react to emergency driving situations. When someone is very intoxicated, they have impaired vision, loss of muscle control and loss of memory. The consequences can be deadly when operating a multi-ton motor vehicle at a high speed.
Drunk Driving Fatality Statistics
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an agency of the United States government. It is under the Department of Transportation. It is responsible for creating and enforcing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards as well as other driving regulations.
According to NHTSA, over thirty-five people per day die in the United states in a drunk-driving related crash. In 2021, 13,384 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths. This was an increase of over 14% from 2020. These deaths occurred not only as the result of a drunk driver crashing and killing individuals on the road, but also includes crashing and killing themselves or other passengers in their vehicles.
A Drunk Driver May Not Be Guilty of a Moving Violation that Starts the Crash Sequence
As a result, it is clear that drunk drivers not only put others at risk on the road, but they also put themselves at risk. A drunk driver may not even be technically at fault for a traffic violation that caused the crash. Yet, their impaired driving may be the reason they were unable to avoid the crash.
A drunk driver may be following all other traffic rules such as not speeding, obeying traffic signals and following right of way laws. They may be driving safely, so to speak, and deliberately driving carefully to the best of their ability because they realize they are intoxicated and making every effort to do so. However, even when abiding by all other traffic rules, they still pose an extreme risk to others as they are not able to react and avoid crashes as they normally would.
A sober individual who commits a traffic violation could cause an emergency situation that the drunk driver cannot react to because of his or her diminished reaction time. At the same time, the drunk driver may be less capable of anticipating other dangerous driving on the road. In sum, it is not only the drunk driver’s moving violations that can cause a fatal crash—it is the drunk driver’s impaired ability to avoid the moving violations of others that can lead to a deadly situation.
A Sober Driver Can Cause a Drunk Driver To Crash
To be clear, the drunk driver is guilty of a serious moving violation simply by being behind the wheel intoxicated. This does not suggest otherwise. The point is that the drunk driver could not be the driver initially responsible for making a driving mistake that begins a crash sequence.
For example, a sober driver may run a red light at an intersection. The running of the red light results in an intersection crash. The drunk driver who had the green light and right of way, could have potentially avoided the crash had he or she applied the brakes earlier.
However, due to his or her impaired reaction time, due to intoxication, the brakes are applied a split second too late. This example showcases how the drunk driver may not have committed the moving violation that initiated the crash sequence, yet is still responsible for the resulting crash.
What is Dram Shop Liability?
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, dram shop is an old term used for businesses that sell alcohol. Dram shop liability laws are laws that allow individuals who are injured to pursue compensation against a business who contributed to the intoxication. Typically, the business must have overserved the individual or served an intoxicated person when it was not safe to do so.
A common example of when a business could be held responsible, based upon dram shop liability, is when a restaurant or bar overserves someone who later drives and causes a car accident. If that car accident injures another individual or a third party, the injured individual may pursue the establishment. Several factors will then be considered to determine if the establishment may be held liable. Some factors include:
- how many drinks were served and in what period of time
- did the individual show clear signs of intoxication
- were the individuals serving the alcohol trained to recognize alcohol impairment
- did the establishment train its servers and bartenders to cutoff intoxicated individuals
- did the establishment or its employees have reason to know the individual was driving
- did the intoxicated individual have a relationship with the establishment
Dram Shop Liability Differs From State to State
Dram shop liability laws are not federal laws. As a result, dram shop liability laws differ from state to state. Some states allow for dram shop liability while others do not.
Moreover, some states allow dram shop liability to attach even without injury to a third person. Specifically, some states even allow for dram shop liability when the overserved person injures himself or herself. In other words, the overserved individual could crash his own vehicle and cause himself serious injuries and then seek to hold the establishment responsible.
This concept is very controversial. Some individuals believe that an intoxicated person should not be allowed to recover from a business when he or she causes his or her own injuries. Others believe that the business should be held liable because they profited from the alcohol sales. Further, the business, and its sober employees, are in a better position to determine if someone is a risk to themselves after being overserved. In sum, it comes down to whether or not a state wants to hold businesses responsible for the alcohol they serve and the harm it causes.
California Does Not Allow For Dram Shop Liability
California currently does not have dram shop liability laws. There are some exceptions to this rule that are discussed in the next section. However, the current legislation provides that those who furnish alcohol to others are not responsible for policing the intoxication of those individuals. As such, those businesses or individuals, who serve the alcohol, are not responsible for any resulting injuries.
California Enacted Legislation to Dispose of Dram Shop Liability
In the early 1970s, a series of California civil cases allowed for dram shop liability. Notably, the liability was imparted by case law and not legislation. These cases held that sellers or furnishers of alcohol could be responsible for injuries proximately caused by those who were served.
However, in 1978 the legislature overrode those cases. The legislature established that it is the consumption of alcohol, not the service of it, that causes the injuries. In essence, this created immunity for sellers and furnishers of alcohol in most situations.
The legislature established that it is the consumption of alcohol, not the service of it, that causes the injuries. In essence, this created immunity for sellers and furnishers of alcohol in most situations.
Interestingly, the legislation went so far as to even name the cases which gave rise to dram shop liability and specifically stated they were abrogating them. The legislation is set forth in California Civil Code Section 1714. Section (b) states:
It is the intent of the Legislature to abrogate the holdings in cases such as Vesely v. Sager (1971) 5 Cal.3d 153, Bernhard v. Harrah’s Club (1976) 16 Cal.3d 313, and Coulter v. Superior Court (1978) 21 Cal.3d 144 and to reinstate the prior judicial interpretation of this section as it relates to proximate cause for injuries incurred as a result of furnishing alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person, namely that the furnishing of alcoholic beverages is not the proximate cause of injuries resulting from intoxication, but rather the consumption of alcoholic beverages is the proximate cause of injuries inflicted upon another by an intoxicated person.
Exceptions to California’s Prohibition Against Dram Shop Liability
California did carve out two very narrow exceptions to the general rule against dram shop liability. The first applies to furnishers who are required to be licensed to sell alcohol and do so on military bases. The second is to any person who sells alcohol to an obviously intoxicated minor. These exceptions are set forth in California Business Code Section 25602.1.
In sum, if an injured individual can establish that someone sold alcohol to an obviously intoxicated minor, and that the service of the alcohol directly caused the resulting injuries or death, the seller can be held liable. Notably, liability can attach to both a business or a mere individual.
Typically, an individual who provides alcohol as a social host cannot be held liable for the service of alcohol. This includes individuals who have friends over or throw parties where alcohol is served. It also includes alcohol served at weddings, barmitzvahs, birthday parties, quinceaneras, graduation celebrations or anywhere else where the furnisher is not licensed to do so by the state’s alcohol beverage control entity.
If those individuals provide alcohol to an obviously intoxicated minor for no charge they cannot be held liable. However, if those individuals provide alcohol to an obviously intoxicated minor and charge for it, they can be held responsible. This includes even charging an entry fee or cover charge at a party where alcohol is served.
Punitive Damages May Be Pursued Against an Intoxicated Individual
Although an injured individual cannot pursue the furnisher of the alcohol for damages, they can pursue the intoxicated person who caused the injuries. Inured individuals can pursue punitive damages from the intoxicated person who caused their injuries. Punitive damages are damages awarded as a punishment and to deter an individual and others from repeating such conduct in the future. Punitive damages are in addition to the compensation someone may pursue for his or her injuries.
Contact An Experience Lawyer if You Were Injured By a Drunk Driver
If you or a loved one was injured by an intoxicated person or drunk driver, contact the Piccuta law Group today. A consultation is free and we only earn a fee if we recover for you. An experienced attorney is available now to discuss your case.
About the author: The content on this page was written by California personal injury attorney and civil rights lawyer Charles “Tony” Piccuta. Piccuta graduated with honors from Indiana University-Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana (Previously ranked Top 35 US News & World Report). Piccuta took and passed the State bars of Arizona, California, Illinois and Nevada (all on the first try). He actively practices throughout California and Arizona. He is a winning trial attorney that regularly handles serious personal injury cases and civil rights lawsuits. He has obtained six and seven figure verdicts in both state and federal court. He has been recognized by Super Lawyers for six years straight. He is AV Rated by Martindale Hubble. He is a member of the Consumer Attorneys of California, American Association for Justice, National Police Accountability Project, Arizona Association of Justice, and many local county and City bar associations.
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References:
[1] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813435
[3] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1714.&lawCode=CIV
[4] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC§ionNum=25602.1.
