The short answer: Often, yes. Under the Illinois Dram Shop Act (235 ILCS 5/6-21), someone injured by a drunk driver can bring a claim against the licensed business that served the driver, whether a bar, restaurant, or liquor store, and that claim is separate from any claim against the driver. You generally need to prove that the business served the alcohol that caused the intoxication, and that the intoxication helped cause your injuries. There’s a short one-year deadline on these claims, and the Act also caps what you can recover from the seller. Timing matters.
Being hit by a drunk driver is hard enough. Learning that the driver has little or no insurance to cover your medical bills makes it worse. If an intoxicated driver injured you in Will County, more than one source of compensation may be available, and one of them could be the business that overserved the driver. Michael J. Lichner helps injured people across Joliet and Northern Illinois think through those options. Your consultation is free, and there’s no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
In this article, our Joliet car accident lawyer discusses:
- What the Illinois Dram Shop Act is
- Whether you can sue a bar for overserving
- The deadline to file a dram shop claim
- Limits on dram shop compensation
- How Dram Shop and driver claims work together
1. What is the Illinois Dram Shop Act?
A dram shop is a bar, tavern, or other commercial establishment that sells alcoholic beverages. Traditionally, it was a shop were spirits (hard alcohol) were sold by the “dram”, a small unit of liquor.
The Illinois Dram Shop Act, found at 235 ILCS 5/6-21, makes businesses licensed to sell alcohol financially responsible when they serve a customer who then injures someone else. Bars, restaurants, taverns, and liquor stores all fall within it.
One point drives strategy in these cases. Illinois courts have consistently treated the Act as the only route to holding an alcohol seller liable for harm caused by an intoxicated patron. You can’t sue the bar for ordinary negligence the way you’d sue the driver. Your claim against the establishment lives and dies by the Dram Shop Act.
2. Can you sue a bar for overserving after a drunk driving accident?
Yes, but Illinois law requires proof of specific things. To recover under the Act, the plaintiff must show that: a) the defendant sold alcohol to the intoxicated patron, b) that a third party was injured, c) that the at-fault driver was a proximate cause of the injuries, and d) that the intoxication was at least one of the causes of the third party’s damages. In plain terms:
– The business sold or served alcohol to the person who caused your injuries.
– That alcohol caused or contributed to that person’s intoxication.
– The intoxication was at least one proximate cause of the incident and your injuries.
The same rules apply when a business serves someone it knew or should have known was under 21. One important limit: the Act does not confer a cause of action for injuries to the person or property of the intoxicated person themselves, so an intoxicated person cannot file a dram shop claim for their own injuries. A passenger, another driver, a pedestrian, or a cyclist may have a claim. The drunk driver does not.
If a bar or liquor store overserved the driver who hit you, proving it takes fast investigation. Contact Michael J. Lichner for a free consultation to discuss what happened.
3. What’s the deadline to file a dram shop claim in Illinois?
You have just one year from the date of injury to file a dram shop claim in Illinois. That short window catches people off guard. The standard deadline for an Illinois personal injury claim is two years under 735 ILCS 5/13-202, and many people assume the same window covers every part of their case. It doesn’t. The claim against the bar or liquor store runs out in half that time. Miss it, and the claim is gone, no matter how badly the business behaved. That mismatch is a strong reason to consult an attorney early, so that both the claim against the driver and the claim against the seller are preserved.
4. Are there limits on how much you can recover from a bar?
Yes. The Act caps what you can recover from an alcohol seller, and the caps adjust each year for inflation. There are separate limits for two categories: injury to a person or property, and loss of means of support or loss of society, which typically applies when a family loses a loved one after a serious injury or death. For all causes of action involving persons injured, killed, or incurring property damage on or after July 1, 1998, recovery for injury to the person or property of any person cannot exceed $45,000 for each person incurring damages, and recovery for either loss of means of support or loss of society cannot exceed $55,000. Beginning in 1999, every January 20, these liability limits automatically increase or decrease by a percentage, so the figures that apply today are higher and depend on the year of injury.
Here’s what matters: these caps apply only to the dram shop claim. Your separate claim against the drunk driver isn’t capped this way, which is why both claims matter.
5. How dram shop and driver claims work together.
You can pursue a dram shop claim against the bar and a negligence claim against the driver at the same time, and in serious cases, you usually should. They’re two separate theories against two separate defendants, and pursuing both widens the pool of available compensation.
This matters most when the driver is underinsured. The driver may carry little or no insurance to cover the immense costs of a victim’s injuries. In many situations, the law provides another path for accountability by looking at the source of the alcohol. You can often name several defendants, including other establishments that served the driver and, in a multi-vehicle crash, other at-fault drivers.
Multi-defendant litigation also demands more work: pulling service records and video, examining staff practices, and more. As a partner at LiSi Law, LLC, Michael J. Lichner has the resources to pursue several defendants at once and to stand up to insurance companies and corporate defense lawyers. With over a decade of experience representing injured individuals, he builds cases designed to withstand scrutiny.
Injured by a drunk driver in Joliet or Will County? Call 815-258-7877 for a free consultation.
Frequently asked questions about the Illinois Dram Shop Act
Can you sue a bar for a drunk driving accident if you were the intoxicated driver?
No. The Act only lets injured third parties recover, so the intoxicated person cannot bring a dram shop claim for their own injuries, even if the bar clearly overserved them.
Does the Act cover liquor stores, or just bars?
Both. A claim can be brought against a tavern or a liquor store, not only against a bar or restaurant that serves drinks on-site, as long as the business is licensed to sell alcohol.
Is a dram shop claim worth pursuing if the driver had insurance?
It can be. When a driver’s coverage falls short of the costs of a serious injury, a dram shop claim against the establishment may add another source of compensation. This comes up often in serious injury and wrongful death cases.
How much does it cost to hire Michael J. Lichner?
Nothing upfront. He handles injury cases on a contingency fee basis, so there’s no fee unless we recover compensation for you, and your consultation is free.
Talk to a Will County dram shop attorney
A drunk driving crash can leave you with serious injuries and a driver whose insurance falls short. The Illinois Dram Shop Act may open another door, but the one-year deadline closes fast. Michael J. Lichner, part of LiSi Law, LLC, has spent over a decade-and-a-half representing injured individuals throughout Joliet, Will County, and Northern Illinois.
Contact Michael J. Lichner for a free consultation. Call 815-258-7877 to discuss your case. There’s no fee unless we recover compensation on your behalf.