In Pennsylvania, drunk drivers are not the only ones who can be held accountable for injuries sustained in a car accident. The dram shop and liquor liability laws mean that the bar or other alcohol selling establishment also carries some of the responsibility, and injured people can sue them with help from an experienced personal injury attorney.
Even though it comes down to the driver bearing responsibility for their own actions and behavior in deciding to take the wheel while intoxicated, dram shop laws forbid bars, restaurants, and other organizations from serving alcohol to someone who is already visibly intoxicated. Let a Media dram shop and liquor license liability lawyer at the Dan Doyle Law Group fight for your rights.
Whenever we think about liquor liability cases, most of the time we limit our thoughts to motor vehicle accidents. In reality, liquor liability dram shop cases can involve all different types of scenarios.
Fights in restaurants, bars, or parties are some of the more common cases we are faced with at Dan Doyle Law Group. We see it all the time where young individuals are served too much alcohol that they end up suffering permanent or even fatal injuries from the alcohol.
In other situations, young people are served excess alcohol to the point where they cannot defend themselves and essentially become victims of assaults. A dram shop and liquor license liability attorney in Media could determine how someone who was overserved caused an injury.
The two types of cases against bars are either first-party or third-party claims. In first-party cases that result in injuries, the injured party is usually the person who was over-served alcohol.
For adults, first-party cases work differently depending on the age of the victim. If the person who was over-served by the bar was an adult, then it must be established that the driver was served while they were visibly intoxicated. The bar knew the adult needed to be cut off but kept serving them anyway.
When it comes to minors, anyone under the age of 18, then you only have to prove that a minor was served alcohol. You don’t necessarily have to prove obvious intoxication, just that the bar served alcohol to a minor, and that then led to the minor suffering injuries.
Third-party cases typically mean that the injured person was not the cause of the injury. In translation, they were an innocent third party. If the cause of injury was a car accident, that doesn’t mean the victim has to be in a separate car, even though that is often what happens. With regards to passengers in a drunk driver’s car, they are also considered to be innocent third parties. Basically, this means the innocent third-party individual is anyone besides the drunk driver who caused the injuries. A Media dram shop and liquor license liability lawyer could help determine liability in a drunk driving accident.
The Dan Doyle Law Group is composed of experienced Media dram shop and liquor liability lawyers. Our law firm represents clients in the most professional manner. Our attorneys are not afraid to fight aggressively for you and won’t stop until justice is served. Call our office today to schedule a free consultation.
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