Boise Dram Shop Liability Attorneys

If you’ve been injured by a drunk driver on the roads of Idaho, you may also have a claim against the bar that served that drunk driver. Idaho has adopted a statute called Idaho 23-808, the dram shop statute. There are special rules that apply under the dram shop statute that allow you to pursue the bar when it’s engaged in inappropriate behavior.

What inappropriate behaviors fall under that statute? Serving a minor is one. If that drunk driver was a minor served at a bar, you have a claim against the bar, for example. The primary one involves serving a person who is obviously intoxicated. There can be some difficulty, actually, in understanding when someone is obviously intoxicated. That can mean, as we all understand, slurring and stumbling and being really drunk but if a bar serves a volume of alcohol to this person and that person is an experienced drinker, that may also result in somebody being obviously intoxicated and establish liability on behalf of the bar. It’s important that you receive full and fair compensation for your injuries caused by the collision with the drunk driver in Idaho, and we want to help you evaluate what to do.

There is a real problem with the statute, however. That problem is you only have 180 days from the day that the collision happened and the drunk hurt you to make sure that you put the bar on notice of your claim against it for its actions in serving the drunk. This can be a problem because, if that drunk has been charged criminally, they often will not want to identify where they were and their lawyer won’t let them talk to you. There’s no way around that unless you have a lawyer helping you who can use levels of persuasion with the appropriate people to identify where that person had been.

It’s very important, under Idaho law, if you’ve been injured by a drunk driver in a collision in Idaho, to get a lawyer involved in your injury claim sooner rather than later. That quick time frame— 180 days— can pass without you being able to identify the bar where the drunk was served. Give us a call. We’ll be happy to talk to you about your claim and your situation to help you decide what’s the right thing for you to do in moving forward and getting full and fair compensation for your losses.

One of the most frustrating issues in a claim involving a drunk driver who has caused a collision in Idaho is often figuring out where that driver consumed the alcohol. Idaho law allows a claim against a bar (called a dram shop, under the law) that over-serves a driver who goes out and injures somebody on the roadway. They also allow a claim like that against a social host, a private person who provided that alcohol. The question arises of where it was and how to figure it out. The person who knows that is the drunk. If that drunk is being prosecuted for the drunk driving collision in Idaho that hurt you, they’re not going to tell you. You need to have somebody involved in your case early who can use some persuasive tools and is hopefully working with the lawyers for the drunk driver to find out that information.

Why is all this so important? It’s important because you only have 180 days, from the day that the injury occurs, to put the dram shop or the social host on notice that you intend to pursue a claim against them for their actions in over-serving the drunk that hurt you on the roads of Idaho. Finding that out can be a very significant matter in making sure that you get full, fair, and complete compensation for losses imposed on you by this drunk driver in this collision. This can be a very difficult process, and the sooner the process starts, the better. I encourage you to give us a call as soon as possible so we can make sure that we can protect this aspect of your claim against the bar.

If you’ve been injured in a collision with a drunk driver in Idaho, you want to choose the lawyer who will take care of you the best. How do you know who that is?

There are a number of things you can do when you’re trying to evaluate the right lawyer for your claim against a drunk driver. One of the things you want to do is look at that lawyer’s background. Are they real trial lawyers or do they just claim to be personal injury lawyers but have no trial experience? Do they have verdicts that have been rendered by a jury that show that they have done a great job representing their clients? Do they have appropriate accolades from inside the profession? Have other lawyers acknowledged them and invited them to organizations, like the Inner Circle or the American College of Trial Lawyers, and said they’re somebody whose skills are high and recognized within the profession? Do they have reviews online from real clients who have had real experiences with those folks and provided the appropriate amount of care to people who they’ve chosen and agreed to represent? It’s an evaluative process.

The last step in that evaluative process is to talk to the lawyer about your injury case against the drunk driver in Idaho. Are you comfortable with that lawyer? Is that somebody with you can have an ongoing long-term relationship, who is committed to your best interests, and who understands that you deserve full and fair compensation for all the losses that this drunk has imposed upon you? You start that process by evaluating people’s backgrounds and resumes and finish that process of choosing your lawyer by talking to the lawyers. Give us a call. We’re happy to talk to you and sit down and meet with you so you can understand whether or not we’re the right attorneys to take care of you.

There can be liability that is imposed upon a commercial enterprise that serves alcohol and lets a drunk driver out on the road. Holding that bar or restaurant responsible for their actions is a difficult task. Idaho law doesn’t make it easy to impose liability on a bar, but it does make it possible. There’s no way to do it without having a good quality trial attorney involved in your claim against the bar who let the drunk driver out on the road to cause damages. You want an attorney who knows what to investigate and how to investigate and understands the special time frames that apply under the law that allow you to hold that drunk driver and their bar responsible for the damages they’ve imposed on you.

We’re here to help you. We’re here to help you evaluate your case and pursue your dram shop claim. It’s an area we have experience in — we have taken cases to the Idaho Supreme Court on this issue. Give us a call and we can talk to you about your situation and help you make the right decision for yourself.