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Liability of nightclub/bars for drunken patrons

By Emily Mapp Brannon

As a busy Virginia personal injury attorney, I was recently pondering about a case I have against a Norfolk nightclub/bar. Here is the scenario. My client is in the bar minding his own business when he is struck by a glass being thrown at someone else. He essentially goes blind in one eye and is rushed to the hospital for reparative surgery. After several months passed, his vision began to return but he still did not have the vision that he once did. Unfortunately he could not maintain his current job with the military because of his impaired vision. He also lost seaboard pay and would not have a driver's license for at least 18 months because his depth perception was adversely affected by his injury.

This is a horrible case of "wrong place wrong time". When I took the call I was initially reluctant to take the case because the bar itself is not legally responsible for the injuries that a drunk patron inflicted on my client. I knew it was not fair because I have witnesses who say that the guy was very obviously intoxicated and harassing several people. That is the piece of information that made me take the case. While a bar is not responsible for the actions of some random guy off the street, they are responsible for making sure that they maintain a safe environment for their other guests. That means that bartenders, waitresses and security need to be aware of unruly guests and remove them from the establishment as soon as they know that they are out of control. In this case, that did not happen. Unfortunately for my client he suffered a very serious injury as a result of the bar's negligence in removing a drunken patron when they should have. There are several lessons to be learned by this case. First and most important, be careful when you go to your favorite watering hole. You don't know how drunk the person next to you is and you might end up injured or worse. Second, if you see someone acting out of control, take the time to notify management or an employee so no one ends up hurt.

This is just one type of "premises liability" case that I handle. I enjoy finding new means of recovery for my injured clients. While many lawyers would have walked away from this case, I wanted to see that my client was compensated for his devastating injury. If you have been involved in any type of situation where you end up injured because of someone else's negligence or actions give me a call. I am always willing to help injured people. We handle cases in VA, NC, SC, WV, D.C. and TN. We have clients from all of the Hampton Roads cities.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Emily Mapp Brannon

Full post as published by Norfolk-Portsmouth Personal Injury Lawyer on September 16, 2008 (boomark / email).