Can I sue a bar for serving a drunk driver in Pennsylvania?
Under Pennsylvania Law, The Dram Shop Law, 47 PS Section 4-493.1 states that it is unlawful for any business to “sell, furnish, or give away any liquor or malted or brewed beverage, or permit any liquor or malted or brewed beverage to be sold.” , furnished, or given to any visibly intoxicated person.”
In addition, the Statute Law and jurisprudence require that the care of the visibly drunk person must be the cause of injury or damage. “Cause” to successfully sue a bar means that there must be some cause-and-effect relationship between notification of the drunk driver and the cause of the injury. For example, when a bar serves someone who is visibly intoxicated and then the person gets in their car and hits another person 10 minutes later, there is likely a “cause” of damages to sue the bar in a civil case and recover. The further back in time when the injury occurs, the less likely or clear is proof of cause to sue a bar. It does not need to be the only cause, but “a” cause that, without it, would make injuries/damages less likely to occur.
Therefore, in a situation where a person leaves a bar and then injures himself or another person, the bar may be liable for civil damages. Damages may include: bodily injury, pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, a spouse’s consortium claim, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of future earnings.
The key question about whether you can successfully sue the bar for serving a drunk driver is being able to prove that the bar served the drunk driver while visibly intoxicated. This can be proven with direct evidence, such as eyewitnesses at the bar (for example: other bosses, people the drunk driver was with, bar employees, etc.). Sometimes this witness evidence is difficult to obtain because patrons were also drinking or are loyal to the bar, and bartenders often side with the bar for obvious reasons. Another way to successfully sue a bar is to do so through circumstantial evidence, which is allowed in Pennsylvania. Examples would be the drunk driver’s blood alcohol test results along with at least some fact or facts that would support visible intoxication, such as tripping, loud behavior, slurred speech, etc., at or near the time the driver drunk driver was at the bar and served.