The Role of Intoxication Levels in Pennsylvania Dram Shop Cases

Drunk driving is one of the leading causes of fatal car accidents in Pennsylvania. Driver intoxication is also one of the leading causes of catastrophic and permanent injuries. Intoxicated drivers can’t anticipate or respond to emergencies. Many times, drunk drivers cause emergencies by speeding, driving through red lights and stop signs, swerving into other lanes of travel, and many other dangerous actions.

Pennsylvania’s Dram shop law

While drunk drivers are responsible for any accidents they cause, the businesses that serve alcoholic beverages may also be liable. The liability of businesses that serve alcohol for car accidents is based on Pennsylvania’s dram shop law, which provides:

No licensee shall be liable to third persons on account of damages inflicted upon them off of the licensed premises by customers of the licensee unless the customer who inflicts the damages was sold, furnished or given liquor or malt or brewed beverages by the said licensee or his agent, servant or employee when the said customer was visibly intoxicated.

Licensees include any entity that has a liquor license including taverns, bars, restaurants, and hotels. The licensee is strictly liable if it can be shown that a person was sold, furnished, or given liquor (or malt beverages) while visibly intoxicated and that person then causes a car accident due to their intoxication. In Pennsylvania, licensees are also strictly liable if they serve a minor (whether or not the minor is visibly intoxicated) and the minor later causes an accident due to their intoxication.

Pennsylvania’s DUI laws

Normally, if a car accident involves a drunk driver, the police will ask the driver to submit to field sobriety tests and a breath test. All drivers in Pennsylvania give their implied consent to these tests. Drivers who fail to provide a breath sample can be charged with drunk driving and may lose their driving privileges.

If a driver’s blood alcohol content (BAC) level is .08 or higher, the driver can be charged with driving under the influence (DUI). If the driver is a commercial truck driver, the limit is only .04. The limit for any driver under 21 is just .02. The fines and penalties for a DUI conviction increase if the driver’s BAC is .10 or higher. They increase further if the driver’s BAC is .15 or higher.

Your civil case against the driver of the licensee that served alcohol to the driver does not depend on the filing of any criminal charges or a conviction of any DUI charge – or even any traffic offense. Our lawyers do coordinate your civil case with any criminal charges. It’s likely that we will use any high BAC results in your personal injury case to show that the driver who caused your accident was intoxicated.

What are the signs that a customer is visibly intoxicated?

According to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PACB), servers are required to recognize the signs of visible intoxication (although they are not required to give patrons a breath test or to know their BAC level).

Some of the indicators that a patron is intoxicated include slurred speech, ordering doubles, crude behavior, talking loudly, boasting, drinking quickly, drinking alone, buying rounds, and stumbling. The more signs of intoxication a patron shows, the more likely that patron is intoxicated.

The PACB recommends that servers use the following precautions:

• Size up the patron’s size, gender, and mood.
• Examine and monitor the strength of the drinks.
• Have food such as pretzels and chips available – along with a menu.
• Discuss how much a patron has had to drink before serving any drinks.
• Keep water glasses full.
• “Slow down service when the customer is drinking or ordering rapidly.”
• Don’t stack calls.

Servers have the right and duty to stop serving any patron who is visibly intoxicated.

How much alcohol does it take to affect your driving?

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), one person dies every 30 minutes due to a drunk driver. As the level of alcohol inside a person increases, the effects on that person’s central nervous system worsen. “Alcohol is absorbed directly through the walls of the stomach and small intestine. Then it passes into the bloodstream where it accumulates until it is metabolized by the liver.”  In 2022, 2,337 people died in alcohol-related crashes where the driver’s BAC was just between .01 and .07.

The effects of drunk driving based on a driver’s BAC are as follows:

• .02. A driver will lose some judgment, will be relaxed, and will have an altered mood.
• .05. A driver’s behavior will be exaggerated, may lose some small-muscle control such as the ability to focus their eyes, will be less alert, have impaired judgment, and a release of inhibition
• .08. A driver’s muscle coordination will become poor (affecting their vision, speech, hearing, balance, and reaction time), will find it harder to detect dangers, their ability to reason will be reduced, and their memory will be impaired.
• .10. At this BAC level, the driver’s reaction time is clearly reduced, thinking is slowed, control is diminished, and coordination and speech are poorer.
• .15. This driver’s muscle control is diminished. The driver may vomit and have a loss of balance.

The more drinks a person consumes, the higher their BAC will rise, and the worse their ability to control their vehicle and anticipate/respond to emergencies will be.

The type of drink generally doesn’t affect the BAC level. A typical drink is about half an ounce of alcohol – the equivalent of a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, and one shot of distilled spirits.

At KBG, we understand the unique challenges involved when a drunk driver causes an accident. These challenges include filing a Dram Shop Act claim against the licensee who improperly sold alcohol to the driver. Please call us or use our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We have offices in York, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Hanover, and Gettysburg for your convenience.