New York Injury Law Blog

It is truly unfortunate whenever those sworn to uphold the laws upon which our society is based proceed to violate those very same laws. It was our founding father, John Adams, who first stated the now often heard truism that the United States is “a nation of laws, not of men”. That regardless of a person’s station in life, the laws apply to each and every individual.
As Mayor Bloomberg says in the accompanying video on a recent post about the NYPD officer who killed the minister’s Daughter crossing the street, it is precisely because of the trust and responsibility we assign to police officers in our society, that they are to be held to an even higher standard than others. To be so very irresponsible as to become intoxicated, and then get behind the wheel of a car, flies directly in the face of the standards we must set for someone who walks among us with a badge and a loaded weapon !

As Reported  by ktla.com

An 11-year-old girl has died after the car she was riding in overturned, and the driver has been charged with driving while intoxicated and vehicular manslaughter.

The accident happened early Sunday on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan.

Police say 31-year-old Carmen Huertas was driving with seven children, including her own daughter, to a sleepover at her Mount Eden home just before 1 a.m. Sunday when she lost control of the car.

The vehicle reportedly veered off road, flipped several times before hitting a tree.

Some girls were thrown from the car from the force of the impact, cops said.

Leandra Rosado, 11, of Chelsea, was taken to Saint Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan, and died there.

The other girls, ages 11 to 14, suffered broken wrists, broken legs, and contusions, according to a hospital spokesman.

Huertas’ 11-year-old daughter broke her wrist, he said.

Another tragedy in New York City involving speeding and children leads to death and unnecessary suffering of a family.  This is further proof that as a parent you must not only be directly responsible for your children but also for the lives of others.  As Car Accident Attorneys in New York City we see such preventable tragedy too often.

Don’t just think about your life, think about the lives of others. Imagine life with out your loved ones before you decide to endanger the lives of others, especially children, by driving recklessly or intoxicated.  One poor choice could be monumental.

DRAM SHOP ACT

RECENT CASE A TWIST ON WHO CAN SUE THE BAR OWNER

As we saw in the previous post on Drunk Driving Lawsuits in New York, an injured person may sue the bar that provided liquor to a visibly intoxicated person, who caused the injury. If the person that was intoxicated injured themselves, the intoxicated person could NOT bring a lawsuit against the New York bar under the Dram Shop Act : The seller of liquor has no obligation to protect a consumer against the consequences of his own voluntary intoxication.
In this case, an injured lady had consumed very much alcohol at a bar, after she had ingested pain medication. When she left the bar, at about 5 AM, she attempted to cross a parkway. She was hit by a car. She sued the owner and driver of the car. (As noted above, she did not have the right to sue the bar that sold her the liquor).
The owner and driver of the car that hit the women then decided to bring the bar owner into the lawsuit. They made the point that the fact their vehicle hit the lady was due, in some significant way, to the fact that the bar allowed the lady to become excessively inebriated. Here, we have someone other than an injured party, seeking to make a bar owner partially or totally responsible for an injury, under the Dram Shop Act !
The trial (lower) court said this was NOT valid under the Dram Shop law. The Appeals Court (higher court) said it WAS a proper application of the intent of the Dram Shop law, and allowed the case to go forward !
The higher court ruled that the Dram Shop Act’s intention was to protect the communities of New York from the dangers that intoxicated people can cause the community, and allowing this lawsuit would further that intent.

It is interesting to see how the Dram Shop Laws will play out in the recent case against a New York City Police Officer Accused of Drunk Driving and Killing A Ministers Daughter in Brooklyn.

This is a very interesting and sad New York Wrongful Death / Personal Injury Case.

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

THE IS A CONTINUATION FROM THE “DRAM SHOP ACT IN NEW YORK“POST

Serving Liquor to the Under Aged in New York

Serving liquor to a minor is recognized almost universally in the Untied States as highly undesirable, and states seek to discourage such activity. The application of “Dram Shop Acts” are therefore much more broad when applied to minors compared to their application to adults.
While the Dram Shop Act in New York State, as we will see, is strictly limited as to the provider of alcohol that it targets when the intoxicated person is an adult, the Act targets any person at all that provides liquor to anyone under the age of twenty-one. Thus the provider of alcohol targeted could be in an establishment that sells liquor, or it can be an adult in a home where liquor is being served at a party. If you serve liquor to a minor, and that minor causes an accident which injures some third party, that third party will have a cause of action against YOU. One important point: The injured party that seeks to sue a commercial enterprise (such as a bar)that sold the liquor to a minor must be able to show that the minor was intoxicated at the time the minor caused the accident. Just because the bar served the minor liquor would not be enough, in and of itself, to make the bar subject to a lawsuit by the injured third party.

Can A Drunk Teen Cause an Accident and Sue The Party or Person that Served Them?

One other point: If you serve liquor to a minor, and the intoxicated minor himself is then injured in an accident which the minor caused, the minor would NOT be able to sue you. A person cannot bring a lawsuit based on an accident caused by that individual’s own intoxicated condition–and this holds true for adults and minors.

DON’T ASSUME YOU KNOW THE ANSWER

There are numerous other variables that can arise, including exceptions to general rules, and any time a serious accident occurs, especially if caused by intoxication, it is of the utmost importance to seek the counsel of an experienced New York Personal Injury Attorney.

CONTINUED IN: DRUNK DRIVING ACCIDENTS IN NEW YORK

Who is Responsible for the Acts of Intoxicated Persons?

The term “Dram Shop” is legal terminology that generally refers to an establishment that sells liquor out of its original container.   A “dram” was a small unit of liquid measurement and the “Shop” usually refers to a bar, tavern or similar business.

Before any statutes were passed, the theory was that those serving the liquor were not responsible for the harmful acts of intoxicated persons against other parties.  It was the intoxicated persons themselves that bore the responsibility for their acts.   The so-called Dram Shop Acts, enacted by most, if not all, states, now place part of the responsibility for the harmful acts of intoxicated persons on those that supplied the liquor, usually if the person to whom the liquor was supplied was “visibly intoxicated” at the time he/she was served, or if the person being served was a minor.

We will explore the variations and ramifications of this type of law which has been expanded and refined over the years..

Continued in: The Underaged and Intoxicated in New York