New Hampshire allows you to file a lawsuit against more than just the drunk driver for your car accident injuries. The driver can be the first place where you will turn for compensation, but there are other possible defendants who can be held accountable in a drunk driving accident civil lawsuit. Your New Hampshire DUI accident attorney will conduct a complete investigation of the incident to determine who you can sue for your accident injuries.
When You May Be Able to Sue Under Dram Shop Laws
Like most other states, New Hampshire has a dram shop law that may allow you to seek compensation from an establishment which wrongfully served alcohol to a customer. Here, wrongful conduct can take on one of two forms:
- The establishment sold alcohol to someone who was not legally able to buy it in the first place, such as an underage minor
- The establishment continued to serve alcohol to a patron who was visibly intoxicated (or who the server should have known was intoxicated)
New Hampshire law is slightly different from statutes that are on the books in other states. It is somewhat more limited in that you will not be able to sue a social host for recklessly or negligently serving alcohol. The law only applies to an establishment that must be licensed to serve alcohol in the state and their employees. Thus, you may not be able to file a lawsuit against the host of a party where a visibly intoxicated guest continued to be provided with access to alcohol.
Even One Who Was Drinking May File a Dram Shop Lawsuit
Unlike some other states, New Hampshire law allows the person who was drinking the alcohol to file a lawsuit against the server when they should not have been provided with it. Here, the standard is that the customer must prove that the service of alcohol was reckless. For example, the law states that reckless conduct includes:
“Service of alcoholic beverages to a patron that is so continuous and excessive that it creates a substantial risk of death by alcohol poisoning.”
In other cases, an intoxicated customer can sue the establishment when the server actively encouraged them to drink excessive amounts of alcohol.
Not only do you want to hold a negligent or reckless establishment accountable for what they have done, but you may also have another incentive to file a lawsuit. The drunk driver who caused your accident may have had a limited amount of car insurance coverage, if they even had insurance at all. An establishment that serves liquor may be obligated to carry a certain amount of liability coverage. Then, the establishment may also have its own assets that you may potentially be able to reach in a lawsuit. Thus, being able to file a dram shop lawsuit will give you access to a deeper pocket, which can result in additional financial compensation, the amount of your damages will not change, but the amount of money available to pay them may increase.
Dram Shop Lawsuits Are Not Always Easy to Prove
The difficulty in a dram shop lawsuit is that you need to put yourself in the position of the person who wrongfully served alcohol to demonstrate what they actually knew, or what they should have known. It may be challenging to go back in time to when the driver was being served alcohol. You may need to recreate the circumstances for a jury, so they can see that the server was wrong in continuing to provide the patron with alcohol.
Thankfully, you do not always have to prove actual knowledge to win a dram shop lawsuit in New Hampshire. You can win your case when you can demonstrate constructive knowledge. In other words, you are able to show that, based on the circumstances, the server should have known that the patron was intoxicated. For example, if a bartender served a customer half a dozen drinks in less than two hours, it may be a fair inference to say that the server should have known that they were giving alcohol to an intoxicated person. You may be able to prove intoxication from the bar receipt, which can show how much the patron drank before they got on the road and caused an accident.
How to Prove a Dram Shop Lawsuit in New Hampshire
Even though dram shop lawsuits are not always the easiest to prove, there are several potential sources of evidence that you can use to show liability in your case. The most effective and direct way to prove that the establishment should be legally responsible is by presenting witness testimony from people who were present and saw how much the patron was served and under which circumstances. Objective third-party witness testimony is often the most potent form of proof, since the witnesses have no financial stake in the outcome.
Another helpful form of evidence will be security camera footage from the establishment that can show the patron, their appearance and how much alcohol they were served. Their condition can be readily apparent from the footage. This form of evidence will not be in your hands at the beginning of the case, and you will have to request it in discovery if you file a lawsuit against the establishment. Your DUI accident lawyer will direct the potential defendant to preserve the evidence in advance of litigation. The establishment can then face consequences and adverse inferences if they failed to preserve the videotape.
However, you may not always be in a situation where people either witnessed what happened, or they want to come forward. Your DUI accident lawyer may have to use other means to prove your case that is more circumstantial in nature. For example, you can obtain receipts that show exactly what the patron drank. Again, you will have to obtain this evidence through the discovery process, and the establishment will need to preserve it before that time if they were directed to by your DUI accident lawyer.
Call a DUI Accident Attorney Today to Explore Dram Shop Options
If you have suffered injuries in a car accident caused by a drunk driver and suspect they were over-served at an establishment, you may be able to file a Dram Shop suit. You should reach out to a personal injury lawyer for best advice on next steps.