When Bars Overserve on NYE: How Ohio’s Dram Shop Law Affects Your Safety

As New Year’s Eve approaches, bars and restaurants across Ohio will soon be packed with people celebrating the end of one year and the hopeful start of another. This evening of countdowns and champagne toasts can be a highlight of the holiday season, but it’s also one of the most dangerous nights of the year for drunk driving and fatal crashes.

Ohio’s Dram Shop Law exists because far too many of these collisions aren’t “accidents,” but the result of overserving and avoidable decisions. 

What Is Ohio’s Dram Shop Law? 

Under Ohio law, bars, restaurants, clubs, and other liquor permit holders can be held liable when they overserve alcohol to an already noticeably intoxicated person or serve alcohol to someone under 21, and that person goes on to injure or kill someone. 

This is known as a dram shop action, detailed in the Ohio Revised Code under R.C. 4399.18. 

To put it simply: 

• A bar has a duty to stop serving people who are visibly intoxicated. 

• If they ignore that responsibility and someone gets hurt, the bar can be held accountable. 

• The injured person (or their family) has the right to pursue claims against both the drunk driver and the establishment that enabled the dangerous conduct. 

This law exists for good reason: to deter reckless alcohol service and protect the public from predictable, preventable harm.

Why Dram Shop Cases Surge Around New Year’s Eve 

New Year’s Eve is notoriously one of the heaviest alcohol-consumption nights of the year. Bars and restaurants are packed, and alcohol is served at a faster pace than usual. In that environment, bartenders and servers too often fail to cut off intoxicated patrons as they should, allowing people who are already visibly impaired to continue drinking. 

At the same time, rideshares are overwhelmed or “surge-priced,” pushing many impaired individuals to make the destructive decision to drive themselves.  

Every year, we see the same catastrophic combination: Overserved patrons + late-night driving = tragedy. 

We Know What New Year’s Eve Drunk Driving Can Do, Because We’ve Handled These Cases 

At Plakas Mannos, we have represented victims and families harmed by drunk drivers, including cases involving New Year’s Eve crashes, extreme levels of intoxication, and bars or clubs that kept serving someone who should never have had another drink. 

Unfortunately, we have seen drivers so intoxicated their BAC was several times the legal limit, bars that ignored obvious signs of impairment, establishments that kept pouring drinks for profit while patrons were stumbling, and families who woke up on New Year’s Day to hospital calls, police notifications, or unthinkable loss. 

Dram shop liability cases are not about punishing businesses for honest mistakes. They are about accountability, where profits were prioritized over safety, and where proper alcohol service would have prevented someone from being seriously injured, or killed. 

What to Do If You or a Loved One Is Hit by a Drunk Driver 

Whether or not New Year’s Eve is involved, it is important you: 

1. Contact a dram shop attorney quickly to secure surveillance footage, receipts, witness statements, and insurance information before they disappear. 
2. Do not speak with the bar or the bar’s insurer before talking to counsel.

These cases are evidence-intensive, and time matters. 

A Safe New Year’s Eve Is a Better New Year’s Eve 

If you’re celebrating: 

• Plan ahead. 

• Use a rideshare, designated driver, or stay overnight. 

• Remind your friends not to “risk it.”

If You Need A Dram Shop Lawyer, We’re Here 

Plakas Mannos has decades of experience holding drunk drivers, and the negligent establishments who overserved them, accountable. We know how to build dram shop cases, and we know how to protect families facing some of the hardest days of their lives. So, if you need legal assistance this New Year’s Eve, you can reach out to our team of personal injury/wrongful death lawyers.

About the Author 

Elisabeth Jackson is an associate attorney with our firm and her areas of practice include personal injury, wrongful death, criminal law, and general litigation.