Contiued From DRAM SHOP ACT: DRUNK AND UNDERAGED IN NEW YORK
FIRST POST IN SERIES : DRAM SHOP LAWS IN NEW YORK
Those That Serve Alcohol can be Sued for Drunk Driving Accidents in New York
When a person drives while intoxicated and causes an accident, any person injured in that accident caused by the drunk driver may well have the ability to sue not only the owner and driver of the drunk driver’s vehicle. You may be able to sue someone that supplied the liquor that caused the driver’s inebriation. This applies, as well, to a person injured in any kind of accident at all that was caused by an intoxicated person. (Caution: an intoxicated person causing injury to himself would NOT be able to sue the person that provided him with alcohol !).
This ability to sue the provider of alcohol to an intoxicated adult “tortfeasor” (person that causes an accident) does have restrictions. First, and most importantly, this law, in New York State, applies only to the commercial sale of alcohol. Serving liquor to someone at a function or party, for example, would not bring the person providing the liquor under this statute.
In order to hold a seller of liquor responsible, it is also necessary to show that the sale of the liquor went directly to the person that eventually caused the accident. It is not enough to show that the person selling the alcohol sold it to one individual who then turned around and gave or sold it to the eventual “tortfeasor”.
Finally, it is essential in order to establish liability on the part of the person selling the liquor, to show that at the time the seller of alcohol sold the liquor to the intoxicated person, that buyer was VISIBLY INTOXICATED. This may well be the most difficult aspect of bringing a “Dram Shop Act” lawsuit, since the requirements for the person bringing the lawsuit in showing “visible intoxication” at the time of the sale are very strict and burdensome. It is this element alone that should make it immediately obvious toanyone injured by an intoxicated / drunk person to contact experienced and knowledgeable New York Personal Injury Attorneys as quickly as possible so that appropriated evidence can be gathered in an expeditious manner. DON’T ASSUME YOU KNOW THE ANSWER