A store or restaurant that sells alcohol has a legal responsibility to make sure they are not serving alcohol to an intoxicated patron. This is something that is widely understood in Pennsylvania law. It can be difficult to determine if someone is intoxicated, especially when the .08 is right on the line of an individual having a personality that is widely affected. It is easy to see someone that is intoxicated at a ridiculous level. However, it is harder to detect if there’s something going on with someone that is still intoxicated but not completely out of it.
Regardless, all this leads to a dram shop claim. This is defined as a legal claim against a company that allows patrons to leave intoxicated. If it can be proven that the company sold alcohol to someone who came into the restaurant or store intoxicated, the injured individual may be able to take substantial legal action.
Now it is difficult to affirm these claims, because it’s easy for a company to say they do not suspect any intoxication from the person who did harm someone else. Yet, this is the exact type of field that a company like Swartz Culleton PC specializes in. They are geared to speak to employees of the building and get a full report of what was going on that day. It’s certainly difficult to put together Dram Shop Claims, but a law firm that does their due diligence may surface video footage, reports from multiple angles and multiple employees, and even a detective. This all goes to forming a case that is implacable and concrete. A company needs to prove, for the Dram Shop Claims to pass, that the intoxication was the source of why the accident occurred, and that the place of business sold it to someone that was visibly and inarguably intoxicated.
This doesn’t always apply to someone that was intoxicated, though. A company that serves alcohol to someone after the pre-determined hours or to a minor is equally responsible. It is even worse in the latter case, because a business could face all sorts of legal charges. These types of cases are what make law firms in Pennsylvania victorious and substantial in the community.