Jury Verdict - Not Guilty for Death Claim under Dram Shop Act
Lori A. Vanderlaan, Kimberlee Massin, and Carrie Linden

January 2013

---

Lori Vanderlaan, Kimberlee Massin, and Carrie Linden obtained a jury verdict in favor of a private social club in a claim brought under the Dram Shop Act when Plaintiff’s decedent, a husband and father of three young boys, was killed as a passenger in a one car collision involving drunk driving.   Defendant argued that the decedent had been drinking at the social club with the driver of the auto and was therefore complicit in the driver’s ultimate intoxication which caused the accident.  Under the Dram Shop Act, the family could not recover against the social club given the husband/father’s role in procuring or causing the driver’s intoxication.