Liquor Liability & Dram Shop Lawyer

Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyers with over 60 Years Combined Experience Helping Those Injured in Drunk Driving Accidents

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury in an accident due to drunk driving, it is important that you protect your legal rights and an investigation is conducted right away. Nadeau Harkavy LLC has over 60 years combined experience representing victims and their families in motor vehicle accidents due to drunk driving. If you believe some individual or entity may be responsible for what happened, you should consult an experienced attorney to review your particular factual circumstances surrounding your accident to determine the best legal course of action for you.

Some of the most tragic accident cases we have handled involve intoxicated persons causing injuries to our clients.  The most common types of alcohol related accidents involve drunk driving car accidents. The individual driving under the influence of alcohol is typically held responsible.  However, there may be other individuals or entities responsible for the harm. The individuals or establishments serving or supplying the alcohol to the individual who drives drunk may be held responsible.  The drunk driver usually has motor vehicle insurance that covers the accident.  Bars and/or restaurants also typically have insurance coverage for accidents caused by drunk patrons that were served and then leave their businesses and cause accidents.

Massachusetts like other states has laws to protect the public known as “Dram Shop Law”.  This law holds a business that serves alcohol responsible for overserving the intoxicated person. The types of businesses that fall under the dram shop laws include bars, restaurants, nightclubs, liquor stores, sports venues, social clubs and taverns.

According to Mass. General Laws Chapter 138, section 69, no alcoholic beverage shall be sold or delivered on any premises to an intoxicated person.  Owners of the establishments must properly train their employees to observe the behavior of their patrons and deal with intoxicated customers.  Bartenders, waiters and waitresses, managers, and owners all have a duty and responsibility to not serve an intoxicated customer.

Additionally, common law applies a standard of what a reasonable person would do.  If the individual and or establishment fails to fulfill their duties in serving alcohol, they may be held liable for the damages caused by a drunk driver served alcohol by them.

There are other types of cases involving a drunk driver that trigger the Social Host Law when the drunk driver has been consuming alcohol at a private home or event.  The individual or entities providing the alcohol to the guest that causes harm due to drunk driving may be held responsible.  There is usually insurance that covers these types of cases.

You can receive compensation for your injuries including your financial losses and pain and suffering.  This includes current and future medical bills, lost wages and lost earnings, disability, scarring, and noneconomic damages including pain and suffering and loss of consortium suffered by a spouse or even your child.  If the drunk driving accident causes a loss of life, then a claim for wrongful death may be pursued by surviving family members.

At Nadeau Harkavy LLC, our experience and team approach have a proven track record of successful results on these cases.  We do everything we can to hold the negligent parties responsible for the harm caused to you and your family.  We have successfully represented individuals injured due to drunk driving accidents from the less serious cases often involving neck and back injuries or broken bones to the most serious injured including brain injury whereby our client lost the ability to care for himself and suffered significant mental impairment with memory loss and cognitive dysfunction requiring twenty-four hour care.

We know the importance of an immediate investigation to preserve evidence on these cases.  We also know that some bars and restaurants do everything they can to hide wrongdoing. We aggressively litigated a case in court against two bars that refused to accept responsibility for a drunk driver that was served at their establishments and caused permanent, horrific injuries to our client.  The case involved sworn testimony by the bar owners, bartenders and managers, and witnesses to uncover the truth as well as securing the bar receipts, computer information and information on the training of the employees through TIPS, Training for Intervention Procedures for servers of alcohol.  We worked with expert toxicologists to evaluate the levels of intoxication of the drunk driver and with accident reconstruction experts to provide an analysis of how the accident occurred. We were faced with resistance and many roadblocks that we overcame resulting in a multimillion-dollar settlement for our client and his loved ones.

While aggressively pursuing the individuals and establishments that caused you harm, we address your needs and concerns with compassion and understanding for your injury but also your future including life care plans for future medical needs and your lost earning capacity if disabled from work.  If you or loved one has been involved in an accident due to a drunk driver or have been injured in any other type of accident where you believe someone is responsible, please call us today at 617-674-7640 for a free confidential consult.

Nadeau Harkavy LLC serves clients injured in liqour liability and dram shop in Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, Medford, Arlington, Belmont, Watertown, Malden, Newton, Lowell, Concord, Waltham, Woburn, Wellesley, Reading and throughout Massachusetts.