NCJ Number
109743
Journal
Marquette Law Review Volume: 69 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1986) Pages: 217-234
Date Published
1986
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article examines defenses for liability charges against liquor providers in cases where drinkers they served injured others or themselves and offers a proposal for comparative negligence.
Abstract
In jurisdictions where contributory negligence is a complete bar to recovery from alcohol providers, alcohol providers should not be permitted to avoid their responsibility by asserting the drinker's voluntary consumption as a complete defense. In comparative-negligence jurisdictions, there is a reluctance to absolve drinkers of responsibility for their own injuries. The imposition of liability on liquor providers should always be preserved to a significant degree because they must play a significant role in preventing alcohol-related injuries when drinkers are no longer capable of controlling their own consumption. This can be achieved without totally absolving the drinker of liability. The alcohol provider should be held as a matter of law to be more negligent than the drinker whose intoxication resulted in injury either to another or to himself/herself. In the author's proposal, a jury would assess percentages of causal negligence between the drinker and the provider as in any other negligence action. The provider, however, would be assessed with a minimum 51 percent of the negligence as a matter of law. 80 footnotes.