Dramshop: New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Ohio
In this series, we’ll be discussing what is dramshop and what you need to know about the laws in your state.
New Mexico
No person who was sold or served alcoholic beverages while intoxicated shall be entitled to collect any damages or obtain any other relief against the licensee who sold or served the alcoholic beverages unless the licensee is determined to have acted with gross negligence and reckless disregard for the safety of the person who purchased or was served the alcoholic beverages.
Any person who shall be injured in person, property, means of support or otherwise, by reason of the intoxication or impairment of ability of any person under the age of twenty-one years, whether resulting in his death or not, shall have a right of action to recover actual damages against any person who knowingly causes such intoxication or impairment of ability by unlawfully furnishing to or unlawfully assisting in procuring alcoholic beverages for such person with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that such person was under the age of twenty-one years.
Any person who shall be injured in person, property, means of support, or otherwise by any intoxicated person, or by reason of the intoxication of any person, whether resulting in his death or not, shall have a right of action against any person who shall, by unlawful selling to or unlawfully assisting in procuring liquor for such intoxicated person, have caused or contributed to such intoxication; and in any such action, such person shall have a right to recover actual and exemplary damages.
An aggrieved party has a claim for relief for damages against a permittee or local Alcoholic Beverage Control Board if:
The permittee or his agent or employee or the local board or its agent or employee negligently sold or furnished an alcoholic beverage to an underage person; and
The consumption of the alcoholic beverage that was sold or furnished to an underage person caused or contributed to, in whole or in part, an underage driver's being subject to an impairing substance at the time of the injury; and
The injury that resulted was proximately caused by the underage driver's negligent operation of a vehicle while so impaired.
Every spouse, child, parent, guardian, employer, or other individual who is injured by any obviously intoxicated individual has a claim for relief for fault under section 32-03.2-02 against any person who knowingly disposes, sells, barters, or gives away alcoholic beverages to an individual under twenty-one years of age or to an incompetent or an obviously intoxicated individual, and if death ensues, the survivors of the decedent are entitled to damages defined in section 32-21-02.
If a retail licensee is found liable under this section and exemplary damages are sought, the finder of fact may consider as a mitigating factor that the licensee provided to an employee alcohol server training that addressed intoxication, drunk driving, and underage drinking.
No person, and no executor or administrator of the person, who suffers personal injury, death, or property damage as a result of the actions of an intoxicated person has a cause of action against any liquor permit holder or an employee of a liquor permit holder who sold beer or intoxicating liquor to the intoxicated person unless the personal injury, death, or property damage occurred on the permit holder's premises or in a parking lot under the control of the permit holder and was proximately caused by the negligence of the permit holder or an employee of the permit holder.
A person has a cause of action against a permit holder or an employee of a permit holder for personal injury, death, or property damage caused by the negligent actions of an intoxicated person occurring off the premises or away from a parking lot under the permit holder's control only when both of the following can be shown by a preponderance of the evidence:
The permit holder or an employee of the permit holder knowingly sold an intoxicating beverage to at least one of the following:
A noticeably intoxicated person;
A person who is underage.
The person's intoxication proximately caused personal injury, death, or property damage.
