Texas Restaurant Drunk Lawsuits and Texas Bar Drunk Lawsuits: Texas Restaurants and Texas Bars That Over Serve Intoxicated Customers Can Often Be Held Liable for Causing Fatal Accidents by Texas Bar Drunk Accident Lawyer and Texas Restaurant Drunk Accident Lawyer Jason S. Coomer  

Texas restaurants, bars, and nightclubs that over serve intoxicated customers that cause drunk driver accidents can often be held liable for death or serious injuries caused in the accident.  These cases are called dram shop lawsuits and can be brought by surviving family members of persons killed in the accident or by individuals severely injured in the accident.  If you have have lost a loved one due the negligence of a Texas restaurant, bar, or nightclub, please feel free to submit an inquiry to Texas Restaurant Drunk Driver Accident Lawyer Jason Coomer for a Free Online Evaluation of your potential claim.  You can also send an e-mail with your name, address, date of automobile accident, location of the automobile accident, name of one or more of the drivers in the automobile accident, name of the bar or restaurant, and a brief description of the accident.

Facts About Texas Intoxicated Drivers and Texas Drunk Driver Crash Lawsuits

Alcohol is the number one killer on our roads and the most abused substance in the United States. About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related vehicle collision at some point in their lives. In 2009, there were 33,808 traffic fatalities in the United States, and the state of Texas accounted for 3,071 of those. In this same year, alcohol-impaired driving was a factor in 32% of the fatalities in the United States, and 45% of alcohol-related fatalities in Texas. At any given time it is estimated that on the road, one out of every 100 drivers has a BAC of .10% or more. Further, on Holidays, weekends, bar closing times, and during many special events this number increases dramatically.

One reason for the large number of drunk drivers on Texas roads are bars, night clubs, party hosts, fraternities, and restaurants that serve alcohol to customers that are already drunk. Under Texas law a bar, night club, or restaurant that serves a drunk person alcohol can be held liable if they let that intoxicated person drive and the intoxicated person causes an automobile accident. For more information on Texas Drunk Driver Crash Lawsuits, please read below or go to the following web pages: Texas Happy Hour Crash Lawsuits, Texas Fatal Drunk Driver Lawsuits, and Texas DWI Crash Lawsuits.

Texas Bar Drunk Driver Crash Lawsuits, Texas Happy Hour Lawsuits, Texas Drink Special Lawsuits, and other Texas Dram Shop Lawsuits

A Texas Dram Shop Lawsuit refers to Texas Bar Lawsuits, Texas Happy Hour Lawsuits, and Texas Drink Special Lawsuits where a bar, restaurant, or nightclub over serves drunk customers. These lawsuits are against the bar, restaurant, or nightclub that violated Texas law. More specifically, a dram shop is any drinking establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold including bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. The term "dram shop" relates back to a time when a drinking establishment served patrons alcohol by the measurement of a dram which is one eighth of a fluid ounce.

The Texas Dram Shop Law was passed in 1987. This law allows individuals to bring civil lawsuits against a person or business who serves, sells, or provides alcohol to someone who is visibly intoxicated to the extent that he presents a clear and obvious danger to himself or others. In these Texas Bar Drunk Lawsuits the injured person or family of the person who was killed by a drunk driver need to prove where the drunk driver was drinking, the drunk driver caused the accident, that the intoxicated person was served after they were obviously intoxicated, and the intoxication was the proximate cause of the damage incurred.

In September 2004, the Texas Supreme Court clarified the law surrounding the responsibility between patrons and drinking establishments when they held in the Duenez decision that a licensed alcohol seller is jointly responsible with its patron when it provides alcohol to an obviously intoxicated patron and that patron harms another.

Texas Bar Drunk Driver Crash Lawsuits, Texas Happy Hour Lawsuits, Texas Drink Special Lawsuits, and other Texas Dram Shop Lawsuits

If you have lost a loved one in a drunk driver crash and that drunk driver was drinking and over served at a bar, nightclub, or restaurant, please feel free to submit an inquiry to Texas Bar Drunk Driver Crash Lawsuit Lawyer Jason Coomer for a Free Online Evaluation of your potential claim.

Every Year Thousands of Texans Are Killed by the Negligence of Drunk Drivers: These People Leave Behind Mothers, Fathers, Wives, Children, and other Family Members that Have Potential Legal Claims Under Texas Law For Their Loss  

Every year thousands of Texans are killed by the negligence of drunk drivers, intoxicated drivers, and drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Many of the people that are killed by drunk and intoxicated drivers, leave behind spouses, parents, children, and other loved ones that are devastated by their loss.  These mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sons, and daughters have the ability under Texas law to file wrongful death lawsuits against the intoxicated and negligent driver, the  people or businesses that over served the drunk with alcohol, and the business or people that gave the vehicle to the drunk driver to drive. 

It is common that many people who have lost a loved one to a drunk driver, do not realize that they may have a viable wrongful death or survival lawsuit against the person that negligently or recklessly killed their loved one as well as other parties that contributed to the drunk driver driving and causing the collision.  Under Texas law, Parents, Children, and Spouses of persons killed by drunk drivers have potential wrongful death claims against the drunk driver that killed their mother, father, husband, wife, son, or daughter.  Through these wrongful death lawsuits and survival actions the relatives of a person killed by a drunk driver can often recover from the drunk driver's insurance company, the drunk driver, parent that provided alcohol to minors that were driving, or the bar where the drunk was drinking.

Texas Mothers Against Drunk Driver MADD and other Support Groups Can help Parents, Children and others that have Lost Loved Ones in a Drunk Driver Fatal Accident

Texas has many support groups including Texas MADD that can help Parents, Children, and others that have lost loved ones in drunk driver accidents.  These groups can provide support to grieving fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, and other loved ones that have lost important people in their lives.  Texas MADD has support groups and affiliates all over Texas as well as offices in Austin, Killeen, Tyler, Beaumont, Bryan, Dallas, Fort Worth, Mckinney, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Edinburg,  Houston, El Paso, and Lubbock.  For more information on Texas MADD and an alphabetical listing of the counties with affiliates, please go to the Texas MADD Web Site.

Austin Texas Drunk Driver Accident Death Lawyer Handles Texas Drunk Driver Accident Death Lawsuits Where an Intoxicated Driver Negligently Kills Another Person or Persons in a Fatal Drunk Driver Car Wreck

After losing a loved one in an accident, it can be difficult to locate all potential insurance recoveries as well as to prove to insurance companies and guilty defendants the full extent of damages that your family has suffered. This is true even if the damages suffered include the loss of a main contributor of financial support to your family or if there are large medical and funeral bills created by the death.  These damages can cause a ripple affect of other damages that can result in the loss of a home, loss of vehicles, loss of ability to go to college, and other serious financial problems.  This web page is designed to assist Texas families that have had a loved one accidentally killed investigate an accidental death claim and determine if money compensation can be obtained to help offset the damages that have been suffered.    

In thoroughly investigating the death of a loved one, it is important to understand the potential different types of compensation that can be obtained through the Texas legal system and insurance policies.  Under Texas law there are two main types of death actions, there is the wrongful death claim that is available to the spouse, parents, and children of a person that has been wrongfully killed by the negligent actions of another. There is also a survival action that  passes through the decedent's estate and allows the heirs or beneficiaries of a decedent to seek compensation.

The Wrongful Death Claim seeks money compensation for the parents, spouse and children of the decedent based on a variety of factors including:

 - Loss of love, companionship, comfort, assistance, protection, affection or care 
 - Loss of financial support
 - Lost benefits, such as insurance, from the death
 - Loss of inheritance from an untimely death

The survival action are claims for what the decedent would have recovered had the person survived the accident.  These claims travel through the decedent's estate and either go to their heirs or beneficiaries depending if the person had done any estate planning.  These damages include:

- Expenses associated with the death including funeral costs
- Medical expenses prior to the death
- Pain and suffering associated with the untimely death
 
In addition to seeking compensation from defendants responsible for the accidental death of a loved one, insurance can often provide compensation for the loss of a loved one.  Accidental Death Policies, Life Insurance Policies, Homeowners Insurance, General Commercial Insurance Policies, and Automobile Accident Policies are all types of insurance that can compensate widows and Texas families for the accidental death of a loved one.  In many instances if the party that killed your loved one is a business corporation, the party will have a general commercial policy of one million dollars to insure them from catastrophic injuries and death.  These policy can sometimes be hidden until a formal demand is made to the company responsible for the death.  Additionally, if the party that accidentally killed your loved one owns a home they will probably have a homeowners insurance policy that may compensate for an accidental death including deaths caused by fire and smoke, an accidental shooting or stray bullet, negligent children, attack dogs, dangerous condition on the property, or other negligence committed by a homeowner.  Like other insurance policies, these policies must be triggered within a certain time of the death and will not be automatically triggered.  A formal demand typically must be made to trigger these insurance policies.

Texas Fatal Drunk Driver Collision Lawyer has represented parents that have lost a child from the negligence of a drunk driver as well as parents that have had their child suffer catastrophic injuries from the negligence of an intoxicated driver.  He has also represented wives that have lost their husbands because of the negligence of an intoxicated driver as well as children that have lost their parents in a fatal accident.  In working on these cases, not only did his law office investigate the cases, they worked with local law enforcement in making sure that the drunk driver was prosecuted under Texas criminal law.   

If you think you may have a wrongful death lawsuit and need a Texas Lawyer to investigate a Texas intoxicated driver collision lawsuit, please feel free to e-mail Texas Drunk Driver Accident Death Lawyer Jason Coomer with your name & contact information, the name of the person that was wrongfully killed, the date the person was killed, the location of the fatal accident, and the name of the drunk driver.