Can the bar that unlawfully sold alcohol to a minor defend itself in a dram shop suit by blaming the minor?
No says a Florida appellate court, holding that by willingly and unlawfully selling alcohol to a minor, the bar becomes liable for injuries caused by the minor driving while intoxicated, and cannot shrug off blame by blaming the person to whom they served alcohol in violation of law.
In general, the dram shop act protects bar and restaurants from claims for injuries caused or sustained by customers who get drunk at the establishment, and then cause an injury while behind the wheel. There are two narrow exceptions: One is where the bar or restaurant “knowingly and unlawfully” serves alcohol to someone who is underage. Two, the other is where the bar or restaurant knowingly sells alcohol to a person they know to be addicted to alcohol.
By “unlawfully and willfully” serving a person under the drinking age, the court explained, the bar becomes liable for the injuries caused by the minor’s intoxicated driving. The bar should not be permitted to blame the teenager when it was the bar which unlawfully sold alcohol to the minor. The purpose of the law, the court said, is to protect the minor.
Ironically, the pedestrian injured in the case, struck while crossing the street, was also an underaged minor, who was intoxicated after having left another bar. She could not be blamed for her condition the court ruled, because the bar that served her was at fault for willfully and unlawfully serving her alcohol.
You can read the opinion yourself right here.
