Michigan Restaurant and Bar Injury and Dram Shop Lawyer

If a bar kept serving someone who was already drunk and that person hurt you on the road, or if you were injured inside a restaurant by a wet floor or a scalding plate, you may have a claim, and in the over-serving cases, the clock is already running. Michigan’s dram shop rules are some of the most unforgiving deadlines in injury law, and missing one can end a strong case before the facts are even clear.

Vahdat Weisman Law represents people hurt at restaurants and bars, and people injured by patrons who were over-served at a bar, in Livonia and across Michigan. Our premises liability attorneys treat these cases as two tracks: the dram shop claim against the business that served the alcohol and the premises claim for injuries on the property, and we move fast on both.

When a Bar Over-Serves: Michigan’s Dram Shop Law

Michigan’s Dram Shop Act lets certain injured people hold a licensed bar, restaurant, or store responsible for unlawfully serving alcohol. It applies in two situations: serving a person who was already visibly intoxicated, or serving anyone under 21. If that customer then injures someone, the licensed business can share responsibility for the harm. The proper defendant is the company that holds the liquor license, not the bartender or the building, and identifying it correctly matters because the deadline can run before a mistake is fixed.

Who can bring the claim is limited. The intoxicated person cannot sue the bar for their own injuries, and neither can their family for the loss of that person. Dram shop claims belong to the innocent people the intoxicated customer harmed, the family of someone killed by a drunk driver, a passenger, a pedestrian, another motorist, or a bystander hurt in a bar fight. One caution: a person who helped cause the intoxication, by buying the rounds or egging on the drinking, can be treated as a non-innocent party and barred. And against the licensed seller, the Dram Shop Act is the only avenue, so it has to be done right the first time.

Proving the Bar Over-Served Is Harder Than It Sounds

Michigan sets a high bar for proof, and people are surprised by it. Under Reed v. Breton, you cannot win a visible-intoxication case simply by showing the customer’s blood alcohol level was high, or by having an expert say they must have looked drunk. The law requires evidence of what the person actually looked like at the time they were served, slurred speech, stumbling, fumbling, the outward signs a server should have seen. That makes eyewitnesses, surveillance video, and the bar’s own point-of-sale and tab records critical, and it is why we send preservation demands immediately, before footage and receipts are purged within weeks. Minor cases are different: there, the sale itself is unlawful regardless of how sober the minor seemed, though a business that checked a genuine-looking ID showing age 21 has a defense.

The Deadlines and Rules That Trap These Claims

Three rules end more dram shop cases than anything about the facts. First, the deadline to sue is two years, not the three that apply to most injury claims, and it is strict; even a child’s claim is not extended the way other minors’ claims are. Second, written notice of the claim must be delivered to the licensed establishment within 120 days of hiring a lawyer to pursue it. Third, Michigan’s “name and retain” rule requires that the intoxicated person or the minor be named as a defendant and retained in the case through trial or settlement. Quietly settle with the drunk driver and drop them from the suit, and the claim against the bar can collapse with it. We calendar and protect all three from day one.

Hit by a Drunk Driver? You May Have Several Claims

A dram shop claim against the bar is usually not your only one. If you were hurt in the crash, your own auto insurance pays no-fault personal injury protection benefits for medical care and lost wages regardless of fault, starting right away. You may have a claim against the drunk driver for pain and suffering if your injury meets Michigan’s serious-impairment threshold, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may add to the recovery when the driver’s insurance falls short. Each of these runs on its own deadline and proof, and we coordinate them so nothing is left behind.

Social Hosts Follow a Different Rule

People often ask whether the host of a party can be held responsible, as a bar would be. Usually not. Michigan imposes no liability on a social host who serves an adult guest, even one who is clearly drunk, and the Dram Shop Act does not apply to a private host at all. The separate exception, under Michigan common law, is for furnishing alcohol to a minor: an adult who provides alcohol to someone under 21 can be responsible when that minor causes harm. That line, adult guest versus minor, decides whether a claim against a host exists.

Injuries Inside the Restaurant or Bar

As a paying customer, you are an invitee and are owed the operator’s reasonable care. Common injuries include falls on floors left wet or greasy without warning, burns from scalding food, drinks, or cooking equipment, food poisoning from unsafe handling, and collapses of poorly maintained chairs and booths. These cases turn on proof, sweep logs, server testimony, prior complaints, video, and whether the operator created the hazard, knew about it, or should have caught it. A food-poisoning case, in particular, needs a medical diagnosis and, ideally, lab confirmation of the pathogen and a health department link to the kitchen, not just an upset stomach after a meal.

For years, restaurants defeated fall claims with the open-and-obvious defense. In Kandil-Elsayed v. F&E Oil (2023), the Michigan Supreme Court ended that automatic dismissal, moving the obviousness of a hazard from the question of duty to the questions of breach and fault that a jury decides. A visible spill no longer ends the case at the start, though you still have to prove the hazard was unreasonable, the operator was careless, and it caused your injury.

Assaults and Bar Fights

Violence at a bar raises a questionthat Michigan answers narrowly. Under MacDonald v. PKT, Inc., a business generally has no duty to anticipate and prevent the criminal acts of others, and a history of trouble at the bar does not by itself create one. The duty Michigan recognizes is to respond reasonably, by promptly summoning police, once staff becomes aware of a specific, imminent threat to identifiable patrons. So a bar-fight case tends to turn on what the staff knew and did in the moment, and sometimes on dram shop liability if an attacker was over-served, rather than on whether the bar should have hired guards. We tell clients candidly where their facts fall.

Fault and Compensation

The insurance company will try to pin the blame on you to cut what it pays. Michigan’s comparative-fault rule reduces a recovery by the injured person’s share of the blame and bars compensation for pain and suffering only if that share tops 50 percent, with medical bills and lost wages still recoverable in reduced form. In a dram shop case, a jury can also divide responsibility between the bar and the intoxicated person. We build the case to keep an unfair blame game from eroding what you are owed, and we pursue every responsible party for the full extent of the harm.

How Vahdat Weisman Law Handles Your Case

We move immediately on the dram shop deadlines, send notice and demands to preserve the bar’s tab, point-of-sale, ID-scan, and video records, and investigate how much was served and to whom. On the premises side, we document the hazard and apply the current law, not the outdated open and obvious version. From our Livonia office, attorneys Jordan S. Vahdat and Kara E. Weisman handle dram shop and restaurant injury claims for clients across Metro Detroit and the rest of Michigan on a contingency-fee basis, so there is no attorney fee unless we recover for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I sue a bar for over-serving the driver who hit me? Often yes. Michigan’s Dram Shop Act lets people injured by an intoxicated customer hold the licensed business responsible for serving someone visibly intoxicated or under 21. But the deadlines are short, and the proof is demanding, so it is important to act fast.
• I’m the one who was over-served and got hurt. Can I sue the bar? No. Michigan law does not allow the intoxicated person to bring a dram shop claim for their own injuries. The claim belongs to the innocent people who were harmed.
• What are the deadlines for a dram shop claim? Two years to file, with no extension even for a child, and written notice to the establishment within 120 days of hiring a lawyer. The intoxicated person must also be named and kept in the lawsuit. Missing any of these can end the claim against the bar.
• A drunk driver hit me. Is the bar my only claim? No. You likely have no-fault benefits through your own insurer, a possible claim against the driver, and maybe underinsured motorist coverage, each separate from the dram shop claim against the bar.
• What does it cost to hire you? Nothing upfront. We handle these claims on a contingency-fee basis, so you owe no attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for you.

Why Injured Michiganders Trust Vahdat Weisman Law

Vahdat Weisman Law is a personal injury firm based in Livonia, Michigan, representing injury victims and their families throughout the state. Our attorneys, Jordan S. Vahdat and Kara E. Weisman, bring courtroom experience, a record of meaningful results, and a hands-on approach to investigation and case strategy. We prepare every matter as if it will go to trial, positioning clients for stronger settlements and protecting their rights if litigation becomes necessary.

We handle dram shop and restaurant injury claims on a contingency-fee basis, which means there is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you. From our Livonia office, we serve clients across Metro Detroit and the rest of Michigan, and we explain every step in plain language so you can make informed decisions about your case.

Speak With a Michigan Personal Injury Lawyer

If you were hurt at a restaurant or bar, or by someone a bar over-served, contact Vahdat Weisman Law in Livonia today at (734) 469-4994 for a free, confidential consultation. Because the dram shop notice can be due within 120 days, the sooner we hear from you, the more we can do. Reach out via our contact page to let us know what happened and learn about your options. There is no cost to speak with us about your potential claim.

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is unique, and prior results do not guarantee future success.