Practice · Dram shop
The driver is rarely the only one at fault
When someone is served past the point of obvious intoxication and then injures another person, Texas law allows a claim against the business that served them.
Why it matters practically
Minimum limits versus a commercial policy
A drunk driver with state minimum coverage carries a policy that will not come close to covering a catastrophic injury. Medical bills alone can exceed it in the first week. For many families that is where the claim appears to end.
A bar, restaurant or venue carries commercial liquor liability coverage that is typically an order of magnitude larger. Where a dram shop claim exists, it is often the difference between a nominal recovery and one that actually covers a lifetime of care.
What the statute requires
Two things have to be proven
Chapter 2 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code sets out the elements, and both must be established.
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Obvious intoxication at the time of service
It must have been apparent to the provider that the person was obviously intoxicated to the extent that they presented a clear danger to themselves and others. Not merely that they had been drinking, and not established solely by a blood alcohol result after the fact.
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That intoxication was a proximate cause
The intoxication must be a proximate cause of the injuries. In a drunk driving collision that link is usually straightforward, but it still has to be proven rather than assumed.
A separate provision addresses providing alcohol to a minor, which can reach adults and social hosts in circumstances the general rule does not.
The defense to expect
The trained server defense
Texas gives providers a statutory safe harbor. Broadly, an employer may avoid liability for its employee's actions where it required the employee to attend a Commission-approved seller training program, the employee actually attended, and the employer did not directly or indirectly encourage the employee to violate the law.
In practice this is where these cases are won and lost. Establishments assert the defense routinely, and it fails as often as it succeeds, because the requirements are specific and the records frequently do not support them. Training certificates expire. New hires work shifts before certification. Management sets sales targets or runs promotions that cut against the policy in the employee handbook.
Certification records
Was this specific server certified, and was the certificate current on the night in question?
Actual practice
Written policy is not the test. What management tolerated, incentivised or ignored is what matters.
Evidence
Most of it disappears within days
Dram shop claims live or die on records that establishments are not obliged to keep indefinitely, and that are routinely overwritten in the ordinary course of business.
- Point-of-sale receipts and drink counts
- Interior and parking lot video
- Server and bartender schedules
- Seller training certifications
- Prior violation history
- Credit card records
A tab showing fourteen drinks over two hours to one card is powerful evidence, and it may be gone within weeks. Sending a preservation letter early is the single most useful thing that can be done in these cases.
Where these cases come from
The corridor produces them
This region has an unusual concentration of the circumstances that create dram shop claims: a river tourism economy in New Braunfels, distilleries, tasting rooms and wedding venues around Dripping Springs, a dense entertainment district in Austin, and a student population in San Marcos. Add long rural drives home on two-lane roads and the outcomes are predictable.
This page is general information about Texas law and not advice about your situation. Whether a dram shop claim exists depends on the specific facts, and deadlines apply.
Next step
Where had they been drinking?
If you know or suspect a bar, restaurant or venue served the driver who injured you, that is worth a conversation quickly, while the records still exist.