DUI accidents take the lives of thousands each year. According to statistics published by Bankrate, drunk drivers kill more than 10,000 people each year, and DUIs account for one-third of all traffic fatalities.
Some drunk drivers are people with a serious alcohol problem who drink all day and never consider the possibility of causing an accident until it happens. Other people drive home after drinking at a party or a bar.
Dram shop laws help DUI victims recover compensation from multiple responsible parties, which is helpful when a drunk driver doesn’t have insurance or any assets. Although these laws can help, it’s hard to prove third-party liability, and not all states have these laws.
What are dram shop laws?
Dram shop laws hold businesses liable for serving alcohol to obviously intoxicated individuals or minors. When an individual shows signs of intoxication, businesses, including bars and restaurants, must stop serving them alcohol. If alcohol is served to someone who is intoxicated who later causes injury, death, or property damage, the business can be held legally responsible.
For example, on July 27, 2020, a man was killed by a drunk driver in Macon, Georgia. Since the man killed was exiting a nightclub parking lot, officials had to determine whether dram shop laws would come into play.
Under Georgia’s dram shop law, victims of drunk drivers can recover damages from a business or individual who served alcohol to the drunk driver under three circumstances:
· They knowingly served alcohol to an intoxicated individual
· They knew the individual would be driving soon
· The alcohol was the proximate cause of the accident
It’s up to investigators and the courts to determine whether dram shop laws apply to an accident, although plenty of drunk drivers have been prosecuted under these laws.
Who can be sued under dram shop laws?
It’s not just the business that can be sued. Victims of drunk drivers can sue the business establishment, the wait staff who served the alcohol, the bartender, or the store clerk that sold the alcohol that was consumed by the drunk driver.
Dram shop laws make it easier for victims to recover proper compensation for their injuries and losses. Drunk driving injuries are often severe and permanent. Medical expenses can force someone into bankruptcy if they can’t recover compensation.
Being able to recover compensation from multiple sources is important. After medical bills are paid, victims have to cover their own household bills like electricity, mortgage payments, and other important services. Then there are lost wages, which can drain a savings account in a short period of time.
Some states have no dram shop law
You would think that a drunk driver who kills another person could be charged with second-degree murder. However, some states, including Nevada, won’t allow second-degree murder charges for fatalities arising from drunk driving. A second-degree murder conviction carries a penalty of 10 years to life.
Nevada has no dram shop law, so victims can only recover compensation for damages from the individual at fault for the accident. Nevada is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t throw the book at drunk drivers unless they have a history of DUI convictions.
KTNV explains that Nevada has a vehicular homicide law only allows prosecution if the individual has three prior DUI convictions. This means someone has to be convicted of a DUI three times prior to killing someone in order to be prosecuted for vehicular homicide. If a drunk driver kills someone without three prior DUI convictions, they cannot be prosecuted under this law.
Even though some state laws limit the ability to prosecute a drunk driver for murder, most serve more time than the minimum penalty when they’ve killed someone.
Proving liability under dram shop laws is tough
While dram shop laws help DUI accident victims recover the compensation they need, it’s hard to prove liability. Sometimes servers can’t tell the degree of someone’s intoxication. Knowing someone will soon drive is even harder to know.
A group of five friends drinking all night long at a club might have a designated driver picking them up at a predetermined time. How can anyone know who is actually going to drive? You’d have to serve every patron no more than one drink every four hours to be on the safe side. Some people only need one or two drinks to be too drunk to drive and they don’t always seem intoxicated.
Dram shop laws are helpful, but require hard evidence
Ultimately, dram shop laws can help injured DUI victims, especially in states like Georgia where the rules are strict. However, victims will need hard evidence to prove their case.
