Maryland imposes social host responsibility only on adults who knowingly and intentionally provide alcohol to minors. [12] The social host liability was recognized by the Maryland Court of Appeals on July 5, 2016, after ruling that adults should be liable for the actions of underage drinkers they house, as individuals under the age of 21 are unable to cope with the potentially dangerous effects of alcohol. [13] Serving alcohol to minors is illegal in all 50 states. [3] Many states impose liability on bars to serve minors who subsequently injure themselves or others to prevent bars from serving alcohol to minors. For example, minors in states like Texas and New Jersey can sue a bar for their own intoxicated injuries. In Texas, this also applies to a minor who served alcohol in a residential property. [7] In other states, the responsibility of dram workshops extends only to the service of «habitually intoxicated» persons. [ref. needed] What needs to be proven in a dram workshop case varies depending on state laws. In Alabama, anyone injured by a drunk person can sue a person who sold or gave alcohol to the drunk person and caused their intoxication. The person who gave or sold alcohol to the drunk person may be held liable for all damages as well as exemplary damages. Alabama follows the rule of joint and several liability, so the liquor seller can be held 100% liable for damages.
In the United States, each state enacts a law, the Dram Shop Act, that exposes entities to liability in certain circumstances and to varying degrees, depending on the applicable state law. A Dram Shop Law (or Dram Shop Act) is a civil liability law that holds a Dram Shop liable for the harmful actions of its drunk customers if the establishment acts negligently when serving alcohol to the drunk customer, and the customer then causes harm (usually to a third party victim) as a result of their intoxication (for example, drunk driving and bar fights). While most jurisdictions limit liability to damages to third parties, some, such as Pennsylvania (Schelin v. Goldberg), extends this liability to first-hand damages and gives a customer a cause of action against the establishment for injuries the person may have sustained due to their own intoxication. Dram Shop laws make a company responsible for serving or selling alcohol to minors or drunk people who later cause death, injury, or property damage to another person. These laws were first introduced in the 18th century during the temperance movements that eventually led to alcohol prohibition in the United States in the early 20th century. If you take a closer look at the language of Tennessee`s Dram Shop law, you`ll also notice that the person being served must be visibly intoxicated. This can be difficult to prove; Many people in a bar don`t seem drunk to a bartender who can see hundreds of customers on any given night.
In some states, dram store laws also allow the drinker to sue a company that sold him alcohol as part of a lawsuit. In a first-party dram store case, if the drunk customer suffers an injury due to drunkenness, he may serve the company, waiter or store clerk because of too much. However, most states prohibit such claims by people of legal drinking age. A 1993 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found some reduction in alcohol-related deaths through the introduction of dram store laws, although it did not control for the particular cases of Utah and Nevada, which may have skewed the results. [19] A 2011 survey of eleven studies measuring dram stores in relation to alcohol-related harms found strong evidence of the effectiveness of dram store laws in reducing these harms. [20] [21] J.F. Mosher. «The responsibility of theatre shops and the prevention of alcohol-related problems». Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Volume 40, Number 9, 1979, pp.
773-798. There is no Dram Shop status in the state of Maryland. [11] These laws were established to hold bars and restaurants liable for accidents resulting from liquor service. While some bar owners feel they are not responsible for what happens when the customer leaves, not only are they wrong, but they can be held liable and face legal consequences that can shut down their business altogether. A dram shop (or dramshop) is a bar, tavern or similar commercial establishment that sells alcoholic beverages. Traditionally, it is a store where spirits were sold with the dram, a small unit of liquid. The term «dram shops law» comes from the British way of measuring alcohol in the 18th century, which was called «dram» and measured at 3/4 of a teaspoon. Theatrical shops were bars, pubs, taverns and other establishments that served liquor drams. Today, Dram Shop regulations apply to all businesses that sell or serve alcohol. These facilities include restaurants, bars, liquor stores, taverns and stadium vendors. Laws that hold social hosts or businesses responsible for injuries caused by drunk customers (including drunk drivers) are called drama store laws. Most states, including Tennessee, have restrictions on when a business can be sued for serving alcohol to someone who ends up driving drunk and injuring someone.
Theatre store laws allow third parties to bring civil suits for victims of intoxicated behaviour against the establishment, waiter or store clerk who sold alcohol to the minor or drunk person.
