Dramshop: Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Maine
In this series, we’ll be discussing what is dramshop and what you need to know about the laws in your state.
Iowa
Any person who is injured in person or property by an intoxicated person or resulting from alcohol intoxication has a right of action for all damages actually sustained, severally or jointly, against any licensee or permittee, whether or not the license or permit was issued by the division or by the licensing authority of any other state, who sold and served any beer, wine, or intoxicating liquor to the intoxicated person when the licensee or permittee knew or should have known the person was intoxicated, or who sold to and served the person to a point where the licensee or permittee knew or should have known the person would become intoxicated
No person shall knowingly sell, give away, dispose of, exchange or deliver, or permit the sale, gift, or procuring of any alcoholic liquor to or for any person who is an incapacitated person, or any person who is physically or mentally incapacitated by the consumption of such liquor.
No person holding a permit who sells or serves intoxicating beverages to a person over the age of the lawful purchase thereof shall be liable to that person or to any other person or to the estate, successors, or survivors of either for any injury suffered off the premises. This includes but is not limited to, wrongful death and property damage because of the intoxicated person to whom alcoholic beverages were sold or served. Unless a reasonable person under the same or similar circumstances should know that the person served is already intoxicated at the time of serving.
No person holding a permit who sells or serves intoxicating beverages of either high or low alcoholic content to a person over the age for the lawful purchase thereof shall be liable to such person or to any other person or to the estate, successors, or survivors of either for any injury suffered off the premises, including wrongful death and property damage, because of the intoxication of the person to whom the intoxicating beverages were sold or served.
Service of liquor to a minor or to an intoxicated individual is negligent if the server knows or if a reasonable and prudent person in similar circumstances would know that the individual being served is a minor or is visibly intoxicated.
Service of liquor is reckless if a server intentionally serves liquor to an individual when the server knows that the individual being served is a minor or is visibly intoxicated and the server consciously disregards an obvious and substantial risk that serving liquor to that individual will cause physical harm to the drinker or to others.
