Originally published by William K. Berenson.
Drunk Customers, Car Crashes, And The Dram Shop Law
Background: Former Dallas Cowboy Josh Brent was driving his teammate and best friend Jerry Brown, Jr. home almost exactly six years ago. They and other Cowboys had been drinking all night at a private night club in North Dallas. Brent hit the curb and flipped over his Mercedes in Irving at a speed of 110 miles an hour. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter but the sentence was probated and he only served six months in jail. The deceased’s family filed a dram shop lawsuit against the bar in 2013. The case finally goes to trial this morning in Dallas.
The opposing legal positions: The family has claimed that Beamers Private Club was at fault because it served Brent an excessive amount of alcohol. His blood alcohol level was .18 — more than two times the legal limit. The bar denied liability and filed a cross-claim against Brent, claiming that he was the sole cause of the crash.
The investigation: The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission found sufficient evidence that the bar had sold alcohol to a customer who was “an intoxicated person” before the wreck and that this was its regular business practice.Questions answered in this post:
- What is a dram shop lawsuit?
- Can a bar or restaurant be held liable for a car or truck collision when a driver is intoxicated?
- What laws and court cases control the outcome of the case?
- Will these affect the trial of the former Dallas Cowboy?
Texas Law Regulating Liability of Bars and Restaurants
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code prohibits the sale of alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated. The state legislature wanted to make sure that the victims of car crashes and other torts were compensated by alcohol-providing establishments when they sold too much liquor to their customers. The so-called dram shop law has been on the books since 1895 and is named from the English phrase for what we call a shot.
The requirements that must be proven by the injured party are the following:
- The business served a person who was obviously intoxicated;
- He must have been a danger to himself or other people;
- His intoxication was the direct cause of an accident or tort; and
- An injury resulted due to the over serving
Texas Court Cases Have Made It Harder To Hold Liquor Providers Responsible
Texas uses a system of comparing the negligence of all people and businesses involved and the dram shop law did not address this formula. There were other legal problems and it was not usually used until 1987 when a landmark case gave the TxABC more enforcement power. In El Chico v. Poole, the Texas Supreme Court decided that providers of alcohol could not serve liquor or beer even to people who it should have known were drunk.
But the state legislature gutted that court decision, making these cases harder to prove. Lawmakers increased the injured person’s burden of proof and required specific evidence of “obvious intoxication.” Further, the plaintiff had to prove that the other driver was a “clear danger” to him.The customer usually did not have that information. Other Supreme Court and state legislature rulings sided with the financially powerful liquor industry.
Several years later, the law changed again. The Duenez family had filed a negligence case the store owner after one of its clerks sold a large quantity of beer to a man named Ruiz, who was already drunk. He proceeded to crash into this family and seriously injured five people. A jury in South Texas awarded the family $35 million and held the store owner (not the drunk driver) was 100% responsible for the damages.
In 2004, the Supreme Court decided in a split 5-4 case that under Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practices & Remedies Code, the alcohol seller must be found with a specific negligence percentage. Three justices who had ruled for the plaintiffs left the court. On a rehearing, the new panel ruled a few years later in favor of alcohol sellers, holding that they have to be found more than 50 percent responsible to be found jointly and severally responsible.
The next pro-liquor industry case was decided after a man named Roberto Ruiz drank to excess, then bought more beer at a convenience store. He crashed into the Duenez’s automobile. The family sued Ruiz and the store owner. A jury in south Texas awarded damages of $35 million for the very serious injuries. On appeal to the Texas Supreme Court in 2007, the case against the provider of alcohol was allowed to be separated from the intoxicated driver.
In most collisions caused by an intoxicated person, proving that the reason the car accident happened was more because a bar, restaurant or 7-11 allowed him to get drunk or drunker can obviously be difficult. But usually the drunk driver does not have a large insurance policy, if he has one at all, to pay for the horrendous damages he has caused, especially in the typical high-speed crash. The liquor provider often knows that its customer is intoxicated and is leaving by car and has a duty to stop a crash from happening.
How This Affects You
Texas is the #1 state in the country for DWI’s. This hits us hard in North Texas, with a whopping 3,783 intoxicated driver collisions in Dallas and Tarrant Counties last year. If you add Collin and Denton Counties, we had almost 5,000 DWI wrecks in the Metroplex last year — that’s almost 14 a day! Over 1,000 people unfortunately died as a result.
Here is more information about this serious issue from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
We Can Help You
Berenson Injury Law handles many driving while intoxicated crash cases and is closely monitoring this latest high-profile trial. Mr. Berenson goes after reckless drivers, especially ones caused by drunk drivers. He supports Mothers Against Drunk Driving and is a member of its advisory board of directors in North Texas.
Our firm follows important lawsuits like this Dallas Cowboys one closely and was shocked by the lenient sentence given to Brent:
Does Dram Shop Act Apply to Josh Brent, Ex-Cowboy?
Josh Brent Given Probated Sentence for DWI. WTH?
But the consequences of Brent drinking what experts testified to must have been 17 alcoholic beverages that night need to be compensated to the family of the victim. A young man in his dream career on his dream team left behind a baby daughter because his best friend decided to get behind the wheel while drunk. No one should be allowed to drive while intoxicated.
Restaurants, night clubs, and convenience stores must screen their customers to make sure that more people are not killed or injured. Lawsuits like the one starting today will send the message that these incredibly lucrative businesses must do their jobs and protect the driving public — even if they make a little less money pouring drinks.
If you have been hurt by a drunk driver or a bar or restaurant that overserved its customer, contact us by calling 1-888-801-8585 or by filling out this form. We will answer all of your questions and explain how you can recover your damages in a free, no-obligation meeting.
Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.
from Texas Bar Today https://ift.tt/2PkQx3T
via Abogado Aly Website
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