Missouri Dram Shop Laws
An injured person can bring a cause of action against a bar if they contribute to someone’s intoxication and that person then hurts someone. This law usually plays out after a drunk driving accident. Every two minutes, a person is injured in a drunk driving crash. And every day in America, another 30 people die as a result of drunk-driving crashes. That is one person every 48 minutes. These dram shop laws are in place to allow the victims of drunk drivers to seek redress from the bar where the driver got inebriated if the bar was serving a clearly intoxicated patron. The sale of the alcohol must be by the drink and by a restaurant and/or bar or similar business and the law only extends to bars or restaurants that serve alcohol by the drink. Social hosts or stores that sell packaged liquor are excluded from these laws. These cases are tough to win as well because the legal standard to meet against holding a bar responsible means that the bar/server knowingly served alcohol to a “visibly intoxicated person.”