Is Tennessee's Dram Shop Law Meant to Protect Only Innocent Third Parties?

An article appearing in Monday's Tennessean describes a sordid series of events ending in a single car collision and the death of the 20 year old driver who himself purchased and consumed alcoholic beverages from both a bowling alley and nightclub in Nashville.

Maynard, according to the lawsuit, began his evening drinking at the Donelson Strike & Spare bowling alley. A lawyer representing the bowling alley, Nashville attorney Richard Moore, said he was still investigating the case and would respond to the accusations in court.

Maynard left the bowling alley and went to the Red Iguana, a former downtown nightclub, and drank until 2:30 a.m., the complaint says.

Representatives from the Red Iguana could not be reached for comment.

Maynard then drove to a friend's house, realized that he'd left his cell phone at the bar, went to retrieve it and wrecked on Hermitage Avenue about 4:30 a.m.

Tennessee's alcohol seller liability law may provide a cause of action for this family if the sellers knew young Maynard was under age 21.

But, significantly, the young man's fault in consuming the alcohol will be compared to the fault, if any, of the establishments selling him the alcohol in the first place. The sellers will surely argue no one made him buy and consume the alcohol. That was a decision he made. And Maynard's conduct in violating the law by purchasing the alcohol while he was underage will be compared to the conduct of the alcohol sellers.

If, and only if, a jury determines that Maynard's fault was less than fifty (50%) percent will his family recover for his wrongful death. And in the event a jury determines his share of the fault was less than half, the amount of damages awarded will be reduced by the percentage of his fault.

While no one said so during the legislative debate preceding the adoption of Tennessee's Dram Shop law in the mid-80's, the doctrine of comparative fault seems to dictate these cases are available primarily for innocent third parties injured at the hand of a drunk driver or impaired underage driver. Only in the rarest and most egregious of circumstances will an injured consumer of the alcoholic beverages [or his/her estate] be able to successfully pursue relief against the seller of that alcohol.