Texas Dram Shop Cases

Texas Dram Shop Cases

The purpose of this law is to discourage providers of alcoholic beverages from serving too much booze to obviously intoxicated people who inflict serious injury on themselves or others. Drunk driving is often at issue in a Dram Shop case.

In a Texas Dram Shop Act lawsuit:

The defendant may hold a TABC license or may not hold a TABC license. But this comes up when a proper defendant sold or served an alcoholic beverage to an adult recipient when it was obvious the recipient was intoxicated. 

As a result, the recipient’s intoxication proximately caused a plaintiff’s injury. This injury has to be foreseeable. Some examples of proper defendants include bars, cabarets, party hosts, employers, wholesale distributors, event promoters, stadium events, among others. 

Call The Abeita Law Firm for a free consultation. In Texas, the statute of limitations applies to a dram shop claim. Seek counsel from a Dallas personal injury lawyer today!

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Texas Dram Shop Cases

Why Hire a Dallas Catastrophic Injury Lawyer?

Many injuries go away with time. The scars remain, both emotionally and physically, but for the most part, people can move on without debilitating consequences. However, catastrophic injuries drastically change a person’s quality of life. These injuries require special attention and planning. Sometimes, you may not know where to go for help. Traumatic events are discombobulating. Finding the right course for your health and well-being is a goal we strive to achieve. We can help you find the medical providers if you are uncertain where to go for your specialized care. 

Catastrophic cases change one’s life to where physical therapy or medical treatment is needed just to perform their daily activities. Oxygen lines may be involved. Mapping out a daily routine can become a heartfelt choir. This most often puts the family unit under financial stress. 

Although difficult to grasp at times, compensation for pain and mental anguish is not always possible where injuries are catastrophic. Sometimes, it’s not anyone’s fault such a calamity has occurred. In some cases, evidence has been destroyed, lost, or unrecognizable and makes finding answers extremely difficult. 

Liability is a crucial issue to investigate early in a catastrophic case. The Abeita Law Firm can help you navigate these difficult decisions on the road to recovery.   

What Makes an
Injury Catastrophic?

A catastrophic injury causes a permanent change in a victim’s life. This type of injury almost always affects a victim’s residual faculties: vision, hearing, motor vehicle skills, etc. 

Some common examples of catastrophic injuries include:

personal injury civil damages in Texas:

  • Physical pain the victim had in the past
    • Physical pain that, in reasonable probability, the victim will sustain in the future.
  • Mental anguish the victim had in the past.
    • Mental anguish that, in reasonable probability, the victim will sustain in the future.
    • Lost wages the victim had in the past
    • Loss of earning capacity the victim had in the past.
    • Loss of earning capacity that, in reasonable probability, the victim will have in the future.
  • Disfigurement the victim received in the past
    • Disfigurement that, in reasonable probability, the victim will have in the future.
  • Physical impairment the victim had in the past.
    • Loss of mobility, loss of ability, hindered, restricted from use of normal bodily faculties.
    • Physical impairment that, in reasonable probability, the victim will have in the future.
  • Medical care expenses, that in reasonable probability, will be incurred on behalf of victim in the future
    • Exact dollar figure not needed to be considered
    • Medical care expenses incurred on behalf of the victim in the past:
      • Physicians fees, dental fees, chiropractic fees, hospital bills, medicine expenses, nursing services, etc.
  • Loss of inheritance 
    • Loss of the present value of the assets that the deceased, in reasonable probability, would have added to the estate and left at natural death to the plaintiff.
    • Pecuniary loss sustained in the past
      • That is, loss of care, maintenance support, services, advice, counsel, and reasonable contributions of a pecuniary value.
  • Pecuniary loss that, in reasonable probability, will be sustained in the future.
  • Funeral Expenses
  • Exemplary damages
    • Damages awarded as a penalty or by way of punishment. Exemplary damages include punitive damages.
    • Bad acts that might not rise to the level of criminal activity but the law allows civil jurors to consider.