Why Do I Need Liquor Liability Insurance?

Liquor Liability coverage can be confusing enough before you even get into the nuts an bolts. The very name itself ,Liquor Liability, may suggest to someone that it’s only needed if their business offers liquor. The truth is, any business that makes, sells, distributes or serves any alcohol  should look into adding liquor liability coverage to their insurance mix. Someone might ask “why does it fall on my business?’ The short answer is because Texas has “Dram Shop” laws. Essentially, your business could be liable if an intoxicated person was served at your establishment and caused damage.

Sounds pretty straight forward, right? The million dollar question is, what types of businesses need liquor liability coverage? Bars and restaurants are the most obvious businesses. Let’s look at a few other scenarios that would require liquor liability.

A “Beerfest” Fundraiser Hosted by a Non-Profit
Imagine owning a local brewery that is loved by everyone. You sign-up to participate in a local “Beerfest” fundraiser. 25 other local breweries get together and supply sample taste to patrons. Someone gets too drunk and crashes their vehicle into city hall. Who is at fault? The short answer, everyone that had a hand in the event. That means all breweries that participated and the event host (the non-profit) could be brought into a lawsuit. Liquor liability coverage could cover the cost of legal fees and damage to city hall.

Wedding Reception
Your best-friend from high-school just got married at a well known hotel. Everyone is having a great time at the reception. Drinks are flowing. The hotel closes the bar but you decide that the party isn’t over. A little while after returning from the store with more libations you get into a fightn the hotel lobby. Who would need coverage in this situation? It would depend on you become drunk. The hotel bartenders might have served you too much liquor. The local store may have sold liquor to someone already intoxicated. Also, the person you got into a fight with could sue the hotel for being placed in harm on their property. Liquor liability coverage has options for all of these scenarios.

College Football Game
It’s that time again. The boys of fall have returned. Football season has arrived. You head back to your college alma mater for homecoming. It turns out they have started selling beer and wine inside the stadium now. Someone takes the refreshments a little too far and decides to grope your spouse. On top of that, the immediately slip and fall down the stadium stairs. It’s just a bad day all around for this person. It’s also a bad day for the school because they have to deal with the falling incident and you filing sexual harassment charges. Your alam maters liquor liability policy could have coverage to protect them from all of this.

The list of examples could go on for those that need to look at liquor liability coverage. When it comes right down to it, if you’re making, selling, distributing, serving or supplying beer/wine/liquor/booze/hooch cover yourself and purchase liquor liability coverage.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me at JoshA@CIMTX.com