A dram shop (or dramshop) is a bar,
tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...
or similar commercial establishment where
alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...
s are sold. Traditionally, it is a shop where spirits were sold by the
dram
Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...
, a small unit of liquid.
Dram shop
liability refers to the body of law governing the liability of taverns, liquor stores, and other commercial establishments that serve alcoholic beverages. Within the United States, laws that impose potential liability upon businesses that sell alcohol for injuries caused by their patrons are usually called ''dram shop laws'' or ''dram shop acts''.
Generally, dram shop laws establish the liability of establishments arising out of the sale of alcohol to visibly
intoxicated persons or
minor
Minor may refer to:
* Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities.
** A person who has not reached the age of majority
* Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education
Music theory
*Minor chord
** Barb ...
s who subsequently cause death or injury to third parties (those not having a relationship to the business that sold the alcohol) as a result of alcohol-related car crashes and other accidents.
The laws are intended to protect the general public from the hazards of serving alcohol to minors and
intoxicated patrons. Groups such as
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization in the United States, Canada and Brazil that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and strive for stricter impaired drivi ...
(MADD) have advocated for the enforcement and enactment of dram shop laws across the United States as well as in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The earliest dram shop laws date from the 19th-century
temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
.
United States
Serving alcohol to minors is illegal in all 50 states.
[ Many states impose liability on bars for serving minors who subsequently injure themselves or others, to deter bars from serving alcohol to minors. Thus in states like ]Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, minors can sue a drinking establishment for their own injuries sustained while intoxicated. In Texas, this also applies to a minor served alcohol at a residential property. In other states, dram shop liability only extends to serving the "habitually intoxicated".
The majority of states allow for recovery when the defendant knew (or should have known) the customer was intoxicated.[ Some states have attempted to address this problem through more exacting tests. Many states impose liability on social hosts as well as commercial establishments. This related area of the law is known as ]social host liability Social host liability is created by a statute or case law that imposes liability on social hosts as a result of their serving alcohol to adults or minors. A social host is most often a private individual who serves alcohol in a non-commercial se ...
.
Different states' dram shop acts also differ as to whether a person who becomes intoxicated and injures themselves has a cause of action against the establishment that served them. Some states, such as New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, will allow such a cause of action but will instruct the jury to take the intoxicated person's own negligence into account. Other states, such as New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, will not allow a person who injures themselves to bring a lawsuit against the bar that served them, but if that person dies will allow such a person's children to sue the drinking establishment for loss of parental consortium.
Illinois
Under Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
' dram shop law, plaintiffs can recover after demonstrating that:
#alcohol was sold to the patron by the defendant;
#damages were sustained by the plaintiff;
#the sale of alcohol was the proximate cause
In law and insurance, a proximate cause is an event sufficiently related to an injury that the courts deem the event to be the cause of that injury. There are two types of causation in the law: cause-in-fact, and proximate (or legal) cause. Ca ...
of the intoxication; and
#intoxication was at least one cause of the plaintiff's damages.
Proximate cause includes the requirement that the dram shop must have been able to foresee that its actions could cause injuries to third parties, but this is true for any establishment that serves (sells) alcohol. One Illinois court allowed a lawsuit against a company that dropped off self-serve barrels of beer at a union picnic.
Maryland
In the state of Maryland there is no dram shop statute.
Maryland only imposes social host liability on adults who knowingly and willfully provide alcohol to minors. Social host liability was recognized by the Maryland Court of Appeals on July 5, 2016, pursuant to ruling that adults should be responsible for the actions of the underage drinkers they host, because those under 21 aren't competent to handle the potentially dangerous effects of alcohol.
Massachusetts
In , the state's highest court has held that a bar could be sued where a patron exhibiting "drunk, loud and vulgar" behavior was determined to be "visibly intoxicated". In that case, the evidence showed that the intoxicated patron had been served six or more White Russians by a bar. The patron left the bar, arriving at another bar about fifteen minutes later "totally drunk", holding a White Russian. The next bar that he went to refused to serve him. Shortly thereafter, the intoxicated patron lost control of his car, drove on a sidewalk, and killed a pedestrian.
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
's dram shop law requires proof that the party demonstrates "significantly uncoordinated physical action or significant physical dysfunction."
New York
To recover damages under the New York state dram shop law, a plaintiff must prove the following:
#the plaintiff suffered injury or damages as the result of the actions of an intoxicated individual,
#the defendant served alcohol to the intoxicated person who caused the damages or injury, and
#the defendant, therefore contributed to the further intoxication of the individual.
Texas
In Texas, a patron must be so obviously intoxicated that he presents a clear danger to himself and others. Dram shops are able to protect themselves from any claims of liability provided they are able to prove that they require all their employees to attend a TABC-approved "seller training program" and that the employee accused of over-serving an intoxicated individual actually attended the program. If these criteria are met, then any plaintiff seeking to sue the dram shop must prove that the employer either directly or indirectly encouraged said employee to violate the Texas Dram Shop Act in order for there to be liability. This dram shop immunity is called "The Safe Harbor".
Effectiveness
A 1993 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found some reduction in alcohol-related fatalities from the implementation of dram shop laws though it did not control for the special cases of Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
and Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, which may have distorted the results. A 2011 survey of eleven studies measuring dram shop acts against alcohol-related harms found strong evidence of the effectiveness of dram shop laws in reducing those harms.
References
External links
"Blame It On The Bars"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dram Shop
Tort law
Alcohol law in the United States