GEORGIA COURT OF APPEALS STRICTLY CONSTRUES DRAM SHOP ACT TO ABSOLVE HOST FOR INTOXICATED GUEST'S AUTO ACCIDENT
Posted by H. Lee Pruett
Hard cases make bad law, as the saying goes. The Georgia Court of Appeals recently resisted that outcome, however, in a dram shop case where an intoxicated guest left the defendant’s home, ran a red light and struck another car, killing a mother and injuring her minor son. In Shin v. Estate of Camacho, Case No. A10A0244 (Ga. Ct. App., January 21, 2010), the Court held that, because the plaintiff had failed to show the defendant host served alcohol to the guest after he became noticeably intoxicated, the host was not liable for the subsequent actions of the guest.
