Minnesota Dram Shop Liability Laws Help Prevent DUI Fatal Accidents
This post was written by Eric Hageman, an accident attorney with the Pritzker law firm in Minneapolis, MN. He represents accident victims throughout Minnesota and has won several settlements and verdicts over $2,000,000. He is available for a free consultation.
In this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that alcohol-impaired driving accounts for nearly 11,000 fatalities per year, or about one third of all crash fatalities in the United States.
The CDC estimates that in 2010, there were approximately 112 million alcohol-impaired driving incidents and “binge drinking” played a big role in those incidents:
- 85% of alcohol-impaired driving episodes were reported by persons who also reported binge drinking; and
- The 4.5% of the adult population who reported binge drinking at least four times per month accounted for 55% of all alcohol-impaired driving episodes.
One strategy Minnesota has used to prevent driving under the influence (DUI) and the resulting fatal accidents is dram shop liability laws, which hold alcohol retailers (both on premises and off premises) legally responsible for harms caused by serving alcohol to visibly intoxicated patrons. The Minnesota dram shop law reads as follows:
A spouse, child, parent, guardian, employer, or other person injured in person, property, or means of support, or who incurs other pecuniary loss by an intoxicated person or by the intoxication of another person, has a right of action in the person’s own name for all damages sustained against a person who caused the intoxication of that person by illegally selling alcoholic beverages.
The dram shop laws are an important part of accident prevention, and we have used them to hold bars and other alcohol retailers accountable for their actions.
Minnesota has also initiated an ignition interlock device program to help prevent drinking and driving. An ignition interlock is, in essence, a breathalyzer installed on the dashboard. As of July 1, 2011, first-time alcohol offenders with an alcohol concentration of 0.16 or above and all second-time alcohol offenders have the option of regaining their driving privileges by participating in the program. Drivers whose licenses are canceled and whose privileges are denied as “inimical to public safety” are required to enroll in the ignition interlock device program for a period of three to six years in order to regain full driving privileges.
Our attorneys represent families in DUI wrongful death lawsuits throughout Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth, Moorhead, Mankato, Brainerd, Bloomington, Eagan, Eden Prarie, Apple Valley, Maple Grove, Edina, Plymouth, Minnetonka, Stillwater, Thief River Falls, Bemidji, Grand Rapids, Austin, Worthington, Woodbury, Maplewood, Golden Valley, Shoreview, Blaine, Anoka, South St. Paul, White Bear Lake, Roseville, St. Cloud, Arden Hills, Brooklyn Park, Forest Lake.
Tags: dram shop law mn, drunk driver, DUI fatal accident MN, fatal accident
