You got pulled over on your way home from a bar and it was determined you were driving over the legal blood alcohol limit. Though you may have many questions at this point, one of them may be whether you can sue the bartender after a DUI in Victorville, CA. You can’t help but feel that, though you should have known to stop drinking, they are at least partially responsible for encouraging you by serving you when you were obviously already impaired.
Some pretty serious drinking goes on at bars all over the United States. When it does, it sometimes ends badly with drunk driving accidents that cause injury and/or death, or at least a DUI charge. When that happens, can the person who served the alcohol in the first place be sued? Will suing these people actually be helpful in DUI prevention?
Serving Alcohol
There are laws in some states that offer relief to anyone who suffers because a restaurant, bar, or social host overserved alcohol or served it negligently. If a DUI accident happens, if the person was already impaired when served, and if damages resulted from the DUI (or death or injury), a law referred to as “dram shop” may come into effect.
Dram Shop Laws
If a person or business serves alcohol, they can be referred to as a “Dram Shop”. The liability of individuals or businesses that serve alcohol is governed by the “Dram Shop Law”. If they serve alcohol to someone who then causes damage to someone else, this law would go into effect.
California and Dram Shop Laws
At last count, the “Dram Shop Law” was instituted in 38 states. California is one of them. It results in civil liability where clubs, hotels, restaurants, bars, and other businesses are concerned if someone on the road is injured because a patron drank too much at their facility.
Suing the Server
People who were injured by drunk drivers or families of those killed by them will likely have a legitimate case in court for not only suing the driver but possibly even the person who served them alcohol.
But… can you, as the person with the DUI, sue the bartender for serving you? This is a touchy area and may well depend on the attorneys handling the case. For the Dram Shop Law to be applied in a first-person case, you, as the person who was overserved, would need to prove reckless actions on the part of the restaurant, bar, bartender, etc. They would have to have known that, very clearly, you were intoxicated, and knowing all the risks that could be involved, they chose to serve you anyway. There will need to be evidence in order for you to prove this.
Do You Have a DUI? Are You a First Time or Multiple Offender? We Can Help!
Jackson Bibby Awareness Group can help you figure out how to fix your life following a DUI. We offer a DUI treatment program that involves a first offender program and much more. If you need to attend DUI classes somewhere from the Redlands to Victorville, or other areas close by, don’t wait another day to contact us.
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