WHAT HAPPENED TO PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?

A Missouri Supreme Court ruling that allows victims of drunken drivers to sue the bar or restaurant where the driver overturned a Missouri law that the court said establishes arbitrary and unreasonable barriers on the courts. The suit was allowed served regardless of whether the establishment first had been convicted of serving an intoxicated person

But it also put bars and restaurants, their owners and employees at huge risk of a barrage of lawsuits every time a drunken driver is involved in an accident in which property damages, injuries or deaths result.

In passing the law, the Missouri Legislature, obviously intent on protecting bars and restaurants against such lawsuits, required that the establishment must first be convicted of a misdemeanor for serving an intoxicated person before a civil suit could be filed as a result of an accident in which a drunken driver who was served is involved. It is still against the law to serve an intoxicated person, but now a suit can be brought against the establishment that served the drunken driver regardless of whether there was first a conviction.

The ruling didn't surprise many in legal circles because of the constraints the law put on the courts. It is rare for a law to require a conviction before a suit can be filed. One lawyer likened it to an automobile accident in which a motorist runs a red light. There is no requirement to prove that the motorist ran the red light to file a lawsuit against the motorist.

While the court's decision was hailed by victim advocates as a good one, it seems unfair that the operator of a bar or restaurant should be subjected to such a high risk of litigation because it served someone who later drives after having too much to drink. Reputable liquor establishments follow strict policies against serving obviously intoxicated people, and they now become as much at risk of lawsuits as those that pay little regard to the law against serving the intoxicated patron and should be held accountable for doing so.

But the fact remains: The driver of an automobile is responsible for his or her actions and should be held accountable for them. If an intoxicated motorist is unable to pay for the damages or is underinsured, the bar or restaurant shouldn't be drug into court and expected to pay except in those cases of pure negligence and disregard of the law that prohibits intoxicated persons from being served.