Pub’s liability in alcohol-related death clarified.
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An establishment that serves an observably intoxicated person, who later causes injury or death as a result of the intoxication, does not have a vested right to be free from a suit, even if it is not prosecuted under the dram shop act one year after the incident, ruled the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District. On Dec. 4, 1998, Mary Jo Piskorski was killed when a vehicle driven by Rolando LaRice hit her vehicle. On Dec. 21, Angela, Terry and Timothy Piskorski — Mary Jo’s children — sued LaRice for actual and punitive damages for their mother’s death. On Aug. 31, 2000, they amended their petition, claiming that Buster T’s Grill and Pub Inc. sold alcohol to an “obviously intoxicated” person, which was the proximate cause of Mary Jo’s death. The Piskorskis sought actual and punitive damages against Buster T’s as well. Buster T’s filed a motion to dismiss the case, or, if not dismissal, then for summary judgment, asserting that the Piskorskis’ action based on “dram shop” liability was barred. The “dram shop” act, Section 537.053.3, authorized a cause of action against a liquor licensee when the sale of intoxicants to an obvious intoxicated person was the proximate cause of injury or death. The statute initially authorized the claim only after the liquor licensee had been convicted or received a suspended imposition of sentence for violating Section 311.310, the selling of alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person. However, in May 2000, the Missouri Supreme Court found in the case of Kilmer vs. Mun that the prerequisite of a criminal conviction, in order for a plaintiff to proceed with a civil… |