Dram Shop and Liquor Liability Laws

The term “dram shop” is an old reference to the colonial times when taverns and such (shops) used units of liquid measurement called drams to serve alcohol. Today’s dram shop laws make it so that a restaurant or bar owner can be held financially liable in the event a customer becomes overly intoxicated on their premises and subsequently injures or kills someone, or causes property damage as a result of drunken driving.

If someone is served multiple alcoholic drinks at an establishment and becomes visibly intoxicated, and then gets in a car and injures or kills somebody as a result of their intoxication, then the establishment can be sued for damages.

There are presently 43 states in the United States that have dram shop or liquor liability laws and New Hampshire is one of them. The original dram shop laws were designed to alter the behavior of the individual drinker, but now things have changed. Dram shop laws serve to protect the public from carelessly selling alcohol to the underage or obviously intoxicated. If you have been injured in a car accident, at the hands of a drunk driver, then contact a New Hampshire personal injury attorney for help with your personal injury claim.

Dram Shop Laws and Financial Liability

Dram shop and liquor liability laws hold bars, liquor stores, and other liquor selling establishments responsible for selling alcohol to minors, or overly intoxicated people who subsequently injure themselves or others. In cases where the establishment sold alcohol to someone who should not have been drinking, they could be held financially liable for damages as a result of such sale.

If you or someone you love has been injured at the hands of a drunk driver, and that person obtained their alcohol from a bar or restaurant or the like, you may be entitled to damages resulting from the sale. Contact a New Hampshire liquor liability lawyer from Mulvey, Cornell & Mulvey to find out if you have cause for a personal injury claim against the establishment that sold the alcohol.

Contact a New Hampshire liquor liability attorney from our firm for a free initial consultation.