Many states have “dram shop” laws that hold bars, clubs, and restaurants responsible for harm that occurs when they over-serve alcohol to customers. Commonly, these cases are based on a bartender serving too many drinks to a customer, who then drives away drunk and hurts someone else. The injured party can hold the driver accountable. Often the driver does not have enough insurance to pay for all the harm. So dram shop laws let the victim hold the establishment accountable too. Dram shop laws can also cover situations where customers are over-served and engage in drunken, violent attacks on other patrons, employees, or innocent bystanders.
One recent case involved a Michigan woman partying in downtown Grand Rapids, who started her night at a now-closed bar called McFadden’s. At McFadden’s, she reportedly drank five strong alcoholic drinks within ninety minutes. She left McFadden’s to drink at another bar and then returned to McFadden’s later the same night. After using the restroom the restroom at McFadden’s, she stepped outside and sucker-punched a woman who she mistakenly believed had been dancing and flirting with her husband. The victim fell to the ground, hitting her head on the pavement. The victim suffered a broken nose and a brain injury.
The victim in this case sued three parties: the attacker, McFadden’s, and the second bar where the attacker had been drinking. The second bar settled. McFadden’s fought the case, arguing that the situation was not its fault because it was not the last place to serve the attacker (There is a “rebuttable presumption” under Michigan law that an establishment is not responsible if it was not the last place to serve the wrongdoer). However, McFadden’s had very little testimony to counter evidence that the attacker was already visibly intoxicated when they continued to serve her. A jury found the bar at fault, awarding substantial damages to the victim.
Another example recently came from Minnesota. In that case, two men who had already been drinking met at a bar in Minneapolis. While the bartender on duty that night claimed the two men only had a beer or two each, surveillance video showed them drinking shots after they had already been there for a couple of hours and were getting surly and unruly. The two men ultimately caused a major disturbance, with one of them, Nicholas Anderson, throwing a punch at the manager, jumping on the manager’s back, and putting the manager in a headlock.
Food-runner Maxwell Henson came to the manager’s aid. As Henson and the manager tried to escort Anderson out, one of them tripped, sending all three to the ground. Henson struck his head on the pavement and suffered a fatal injury. When his family sought to hold the bar accountable under the state dram shop law, a trial judge dismissed the case, saying Anderson’s intoxication did not directly cause Henson’s death. However, a state appeals court reversed the decision, finding that the bar’s over-serving of Anderson “amplified the risk” that Henson assumed by coming to his manager’s aid. Now Henson’s family can bring their case in front of a jury.
A third case from Rhode Island arose when staff at the Omni Providence Hotel kicked out a large group of youths who had been partying loudly in a guest’s room, disturbing others. The group left the premises, but later returned to the hotel driveway with beer, and engaged in rowdy behavior as the valet watched. Then the group harassed a passerby, threatening and shouting racial epithets at him. Later they rushed into the lobby and attacked a random guest, punching, shoving, and kicking him, breaking the guest’s arm.
When the guest sued the hotel, a federal district judge dismissed the case, ruling that this spontaneous attack by third parties was “unforeseeable” and thus not the hotel’s fault. However, the appellate court reversed, deciding that while the hotel could not have foreseen the attack at the time it ejected the eventual attackers, it could have foreseen the attack when they returned. Thus, the court ruled, the victim’s case could proceed to trial on the issue of whether the hotel should have done a better job of protecting him.
Virginia’s dram shop laws are generally more favorable to bars than laws in other states. Nevertheless, if you have been injured by a violent attacker who may have been over-served by an establishment selling or providing alcohol, contact attorney Harry F. Bosen, Jr. to discuss your case.