Special Rules For Suing a Bar

Answer:

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.