Can football stadiums be sued for over-service of alcohol? Yes. Here's how:
Texas and football seem to go hand in hand. During football season, many Texans spend their entire weekends dedicated to the sport.
But what happens when fans drink too much at a stadium and later cause accidents as a result? Texas's dram shop laws have something to say about it. Below, we'll outline how dram shop cases against football stadiums work. In the meantime, make sure you check out our now.
Questions Answered on This Page:
- Can you sue a football stadium for over-serving a patron if they cause an accident?
- When is a football stadium responsible if an intoxicated fan injures them self or someone else?
When drunk football fans leave stadiums and hurt other people in Texas.
Let's say a fan is at AT&T Stadium watching the Cowboys one Sunday. He keeps going back to one of the many bars and beer stands in the stadium for alcohol. At a certain point, he's so intoxicated that everyone can tell. Despite the fact that the stadium has an official policy against selling alcohol to patrons who are intoxicated, one of the full-service bars keeps plying him with double vodkas. On his way home, he causes a car accident that kills a young wife and mother of two. What happens now? To state it as simply as possible:
- Her husband should hire an attorney to file a third-party dram shop claim against both the stadium and the individual bars operating within it that kept selling the drunk driver more alcohol after he was already intoxicated. Whether or not they were licensed to sell alcohol doesn't matter when evaluating their liability in this situation.
- His lawyer should launch an investigation into the incident to find witnesses, research all of the potential defendants, and secure all publicly-available documentation available.
- After finding the potential liable parties, the attorney should file a lawsuit for all of the damages resulting from the crash, including lost wages, loss of consortium, medical bills, and pain and suffering.
- During the lawsuit process, your lawyer will need to cull through mountains of evidence and hours of testimony about the establishment's alcohol practices, including testimony from anyone remembers seeing the drunk driver who later killed the woman being served after the point of obvious intoxication.
The goal in these cases to is prove that the establishment served the driver when he was already so intoxicated that he presented an obvious danger to himself and others. If that can be shown, then the bar can be held responsible through a dram shop claim for negligent over-service of alcohol.
When drunk football fans leave stadiums and hurt or kill themselves.
In Texas, the family of individuals who die in alcohol-related accidents can file a first-party dram shop claim. These suits allow for exactly the same kinds of recovery as cited in the above case. Your dram shop attorney will also have to prove the same elements:
- the alcohol provider
- sold, served, or provided
- alcohol to someone who was already obviously intoxicated.
Keep in mind here, though, that the establishment will point the finger back at the drinker and claim the whole thing was his fault, and so you should recover nothing. However, we've recovered serious compensation for families in these situations. This isn't just because we know the law, but also because we have proven that, because alcohol impedes drinkers' judgment, it isn't fair to hold them completely responsible for their accidents.
You need to call our dram shop lawyers now.
Evidence in these cases has a way of getting "lost." We need to file a claim as soon as possible to make sure the stadium employees who caused your accident don't get away with what they did. Call us now at (855) 326-0000 for a completely free and confidential discussion about what your legal rights are.
Other articles about Texas dram shop cases that may be helpful:
- How Is Evidence Shared Between a Dram Shop Attorney and Law Enforcement?
- How Long Do I Have to File a Liquor Liability Lawsuit in Texas?
- What You Need to Know About Liquor Liability Insurance
