According to local news reports a man was seriously injured leaving a bar in Anna Texas. Police say Greg Morgan was struck by a hit-and-run driver following a night at Billys Bar and Grill in Anna when he walked into the street on his way home. Morgan suffered compound fractures to his legs and from the subsequent surgeries thereafter partial loss of intestines removal of part of his liver and gall bladder loss. Police believe Morgan had a BAC level of .40 at the time of the accident.
Site of the Accident
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Commentary
Normally when I talk about bars or restaurants that could be implicated in an accident I like to give the establishment the benefit of the doubt and assume they follow the rules outlined by the TABC. And then something like this happens. My firm was hired by the Morgans to investigate the happenings at this bar as it relates to this accident. Ive been practicing for over 20 years but quite frankly even I was astounded.
To serve a guest to the point of an approximate level of .40 takes some extreme negligence. That is 5 times the legal limit folks. Look I get it. He wandered into the middle of the street but look at it from his standpoint. At that level of intoxication any attempt at lucid and coherent thoughts are out the window. It is a wonder my client was even upright. By the way this accident happened the first night the bar opened. So what am I getting at here?
Believe it or not bars do have a responsibility over their guests. This includes stopping service when someone is intoxicated. It doesnt take an investigator to realize that did not happen here. Ill talk about that responsibility later.
Through our investigation we uncovered another incident related to this place. Last week a man left the bar and became involved in an single-vehicle accident where the police suspect alcohol played a role. The victim is being taken off life-support today. Theres little doubt in my mind that he was served past the point of intoxication as well. This one happened a couple months after the bars opening. Our investigation also revealed a bartenders arrest with the help of a TABC report. Something has got to give.
Fortunately the state of Texas recognizes that the TABC needs enforcement aid. Texas enacted dram shop laws to punish entities who possess exactly this behavior. It is a delicate balance when you pair a for-profit liquor-serving business with a patrons safety but these two incidents shatter that balance. A civil claim against a bar strikes them where many of these places only feel it the pocketbook. TABC citations or even the moral impediment of knowing they contributed to an accident just dont cut it.
A successful dram shop claim accomplishes two important goals. It can compensate a family racked with financial obligations from the accident. But maybe more importantly it puts entities on notice that their behavior will not go unpunished and hopefully prevent another accident of this nature from occurring.
Texas Dram Shop Attorney Michael Grossman
