Cherry Creek has a busy evening scene, and most of it ends safely. When it doesn’t, and a driver leaves a bar or restaurant and causes a crash, families often ask whether the place that served the drinks shares the blame. Colorado answers yes in narrow cases, with short deadlines and a hard limit on money.
Key facts
- A liquor licensee is liable only if it willfully and knowingly sold or served alcohol to someone under 21 or someone visibly intoxicated, under C.R.S. 44-3-801.
- The civil action must be commenced within one year after the sale or service.
- Liability in such an action is limited to $150,000.
- The drinker, and the drinker’s estate and dependents, cannot sue the licensee under this statute.
Why is Colorado so restrictive?
The legislature wrote its view into the statute. Section 44-3-801(1) declares that any common law cause of action against a vendor of alcohol is abolished and that, in certain cases, the consumption of alcohol rather than its sale or service is the proximate cause of injuries inflicted by an intoxicated person. The statute then carves out a single path to liability for licensees and a separate, narrower path for social hosts.
What must be proven against a bar or restaurant?
Under 44-3-801(3)(a), a licensee is civilly liable for injuries caused by the intoxication of a person it served only when it is proven that the licensee willfully and knowingly sold or served alcohol to a person who was under 21 or who was visibly intoxicated. “Licensee” includes the business and its agents and servants, such as bartenders and servers.
Both words matter. “Willfully and knowingly” means more than careless service. “Visibly intoxicated” focuses on what staff could see, like slurred speech, stumbling, spilled drinks and loud or erratic behavior. Evidence often includes the bar tab with timestamps, card receipts, security video, staff testimony and accounts from others in the bar.
What is the deadline?
The action must be commenced within one year after the sale or service, under 44-3-801(3)(a)(II). That is a much shorter window than the three years for a claim against the driver under C.R.S. 13-80-101, and it runs from the night of the drinking, not from the crash or a later diagnosis. Waiting to see how the case against the driver goes can mean the bar claim is gone.
How much can be recovered?
Under 44-3-801(3)(c), liability in such an action cannot exceed $150,000. That figure applies to the licensee claim, not to the claim against the drunk driver, which is governed by the general damage rules in our damage caps guide. Even so, $150,000 from a bar can matter when the driver has only minimum insurance.
What about house parties?
Social hosts are protected even more. Under 44-3-801(4), a social host who furnishes alcohol is not liable for injuries caused by a guest’s intoxication unless the host knowingly served alcohol to a person under 21 or knowingly provided a person under 21 a place to drink. The same one-year deadline and $150,000 limit apply. A host who over-served an adult guest at a holiday party generally cannot be sued under Colorado law.
Is there any other alcohol claim?
An older statute, C.R.S. 13-21-103, allows family members and others injured by an intoxicated person to sue anyone who sells or gives liquor to a habitually intoxicated person or a person with an alcohol use disorder, but only after a family member or employer gave written or printed notice not to serve that person. It rarely fits a crash with a stranger.
How does the driver’s DUI help the civil case?
Under C.R.S. 42-4-1301, driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or more at the time of driving or within two hours after is DUI per se. A conviction or chemical test result is strong evidence of negligence against the driver. It may also support a claim for exemplary damages, which can only be added after initial disclosures under C.R.S. 13-21-102. And DUI is a compensable crime for Colorado’s victim compensation program under C.R.S. 24-4.1-102, which can pay certain medical bills, lost earnings and counseling costs.
How it plays out on a Denver claim
A driver spends four hours at a restaurant bar on Fillmore Street, running a tab of nine drinks. Two servers later say he was slurring and knocked over a glass, yet the bartender poured another round. He leaves and rear-ends a family at a light on First Avenue. His blood alcohol is 0.17. The family’s case against the driver may be worth far more than his $50,000 policy. Their lawyer files against the restaurant within eleven months of that night, using the tab, the video and the servers’ accounts to show willful and knowing service to a visibly intoxicated patron. The restaurant’s exposure is limited to $150,000, and the family’s UIM coverage fills more of the gap.
What should I do early?
Bar evidence disappears quickly. Video systems overwrite in days or weeks. Tabs and receipts may be harder to retrieve later. Staff change jobs. A written preservation letter sent to the business soon after the crash, describing the date, time and person, gives that evidence a far better chance of surviving. The police report and any criminal case file may also show where the driver had been drinking.
Checklist
- Find out where the driver drank, from the police report, the criminal case or witnesses.
- Count one year from the night of service, and act well before it.
- Send a preservation request for video, tabs and staffing schedules.
- Gather proof that the driver was visibly intoxicated or under 21 when served.
- Keep the separate driver claim and its three-year clock on track.
- Ask about victim compensation if the driver was charged with DUI.