Can I Sue a Drunk Driver?
If your wife, mother or daughter was killed in a crash involving alcohol in Minnesota, you may be able to sue the drunk driver and a bar or restaurant for wrongful death. You will need sufficient evidence to support your family’s wrongful death lawsuit. Everyone who drives has a responsibility to get behind the wheel only when they are clear-headed, not intoxicated, and capable of handling a vehicle that can kill others.
Minnesota Dram Laws
“Dram shop” laws hold businesses, including bars and restaurants, liable when someone drinks in their establishment, gets drunk, then drives away and injures or kills another person. A dram shop is an establishment that serves alcohol. It can include an event at a public location, like a convention center.
These laws hold these facilities responsible for enabling these drunk drivers to cause serious injuries. In addition to bars and restaurants, private events and social clubs can also be sued. All of these places have a responsibility to stop serving alcohol to anyone when they are obviously intoxicated. Since one American is killed every 30 minutes in an alcohol-related traffic accident, these laws are intended to stop some of these tragedies.
Blood Alcohol Concentration and Fatalities Link
When most drinkers are arrested for driving under the influence, they have an average blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.16. That is double the Minnesota state law of 0.08 BAC. Compared to sober drivers, the risk of a single-vehicle fatal crash is 382 times higher for a driver with a BAC of 0.15 g/dL or higher. Read on to learn more about these sobering statistics.
Choose not to drink and drive and help others do the same.
Recent News
A woman from Winthrop, Minnesota, was killed in a head on crash on May 27, 2016 at 9:17 p.m. The accident happened on Highway 99 near Le Sueur County Road 140 south of Greenleaf Lake at milepost 32. A 2000 Volkswagen Jetta, driving by 24-year-old Modesto G. Domingo of St. Peter, was moving westbound on the highway when it crossed the center line and struck a 1993 Acura Integra that was moving east.
The 21-year-old woman was tragically killed in the accident. Domingo was seriously injured and was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester. The roads were dry at the time of the accident on the two lane, undivided highway. The state patrol said that alcohol was a factor in the accident.