Alcohol Excessive Consumption: Dram Shop Liability
Findings and Recommendations
The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) concludes that dram shop liability prevents and reduces alcohol-related harms.
The full CPSTF Finding and Rationale Statement and supporting documents for Alcohol Excessive Consumption: Dram Shop Liability are available in The Community Guide Collection on CDC Stacks.
Intervention
Dram shop liability laws mean that if a customer buys a drink, leaves that location, and then causes harm, the owner of the place where the drink was served is legally responsible. Such harms may include death, injury, or other damages that result from alcohol-related car crashes.
Some states restrict dram shop liability by limiting the amount of compensation allowed in lawsuits, increasing the evidence needed to show responsibility, or imposing statutes of limitations.
Historically, the term “dram shop” referred to any establishment where alcohol was sold; a dram was a measure of alcohol.
About The Systematic Review
The CPSTF finding is based on evidence from a systematic review of 11 studies (search period through October 2007).
The review was conducted on behalf of the CPSTF by a team of specialists in systematic review methods, and in research, practice, and policy related to preventing excessive alcohol consumption.
Study Characteristics
All but one of the studies were panel studies of U.S. states that used econometric models.
Summary of Results
The systematic review included 11 studies.
- Studies assessed the effects of state dram shop liability laws on different outcomes (i.e., motor vehicle deaths overall, alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths, alcohol consumption behaviors, alcohol-related violence, alcohol-related diseases).
- Most found dram shop liability laws were associated with reductions in alcohol-related outcomes (11 studies).
- Alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths decreased by a median of 6.4% (6 studies).
- One study assessed the effects of two high-profile dram shop liability suits in Texas. These suits led to estimated decreases of 6.6% and 5.3% in single vehicle nighttime crashes (closely associated with excessive alcohol consumption).
Summary of Economic Evidence
An economic review of this intervention did not find any relevant studies.
Applicability
Most of the included studies were done before the late 1990s. Since then, some states have enacted limits on the financial liability of servers and managers, set statutes of limitation that require injured plaintiffs to sue within a specified time period, or increased the standard of evidence required to prove illegal beverage services. Such changes may limit the applicability of the findings of this review.
Evidence Gaps
- What is the impact, if any, of state laws that limit dram shop liability?
- How can we improve methods for identifying patrons who are intoxicated, underage, or both?
- Are there other ways to avoid overservice (serving someone too many drinks), such as counting drinks, providing food to space out drinks, or serving nonalcoholic drinks once a threshold has been achieved?
- What is the economic benefit of dram shop liability?
- What are additional benefits of dram shop liability?
Implementation Considerations and Resources
- Intervention effectiveness may be limited by state-specific caps on the financial liability of servers and managers (i.e., how much they might need to pay in a lawsuit), statutes of limitation (i.e., how long injured people have to sue), and standards for required evidence (for use in a lawsuit).
- A benefit of maintaining strong dram shop liability may be business environments that support responsible beverage service without penalizing servers and managers who try to follow liquor control laws.
Crosswalks
Healthy People 2030 includes the following objectives related to this CPSTF recommendation.