Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In this video, we're
going to discuss how liability experts can prove vital in a dram shop case.
A liability expert is someone with the background, education, and knowledge to explain to the
jury why the accident was the defendant's fault. People such as toxicologists, safe
alcohol sales consultants, and accident recreation experts, are often used to show why it's ultimately
the fault of the bar or restaurant.
Everyone knows that drinking has serious effects on the drinker, but toxicologists are experts
with regard to how alcohol interacts with the human body. They have scientific understandings
of how alcohol impacts the brain, its decision-making ability, and at what levels impairment begins.
This could well prove critical in first-person dram shop claims especially to show that the
plaintiff was him or herself so overserved that they couldn't make rational decisions.
Experts called "safe alcohol sales consultants" are people with extensive backgrounds in the
rule writing and legislative intent of what the Dram Shop Act and its regulations mean.
These are people who, in some cases, literally "wrote the book" on what is, or is not, a
responsible way to sell alcohol. Simply telling the jury that the bar sold too much liquor
isn't "proof."
The jury may well benefit from hearing from a recognized source of knowledge of how safe
alcohol sales are supposed to work. An accident recreation expert is, as the name
suggests, someone who can explain exactly how an accident occurred. They have years
of experience in engineering, but more importantly, understand the peculiar nature of accidents.
They can help show that the driver---and by extension, the bar---was the party at fault
for the accident, not you.
All of these experts have diverse backgrounds, but serve one purpose: proving the bar was
at fault.