Iowa: Iowa Senate approves limits on drunken driving lawsuits after heated debate

 

Source: Des Moines Register

By William Petroski

February 21, 2018

 

Lawsuits would be limited against Iowa businesses serving alcoholic beverages to drunken drivers under a bill approved Wednesday night in the Iowa Senate.

 

Senate File 2169 was approved on a 29-20 vote, despite arguments by opponents that the legislation runs contrary to nationwide initiatives to prevent drunken driving. The measure now goes to the Iowa House, which is considering a similar proposal.

 

The legislation says that damages awarded to an innocent third party would be capped at $75,000 for claims involving injury to a person or property. The bill would set a limit of $100,000 for claims involving loss of means of support or loss of services, companionship, society or consortium resulting from the death or injury of a person.

 

“The bottom line on this bill is simple. It is about going soft on drunken driving,” said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames. Other critics noted that 84 people died in Iowa drunken driving crashes in 2016 and they predicted the legislation could increase those deaths in the future.

 

Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City, defended the bill.

 

“This is long overdue for all the small restaurant owners and taverns,” he said. “This is huge relief.”

 

The Iowa Restaurant Association has led a lobbying campaign for the legislation, saying so-called “dram shop” insurance is more costly for Iowa restaurants and bars than in neighboring states. That’s happening despite comprehensive training for servers to avoid serving intoxicated patrons and other efforts made to keep impaired drivers off the roads, such as calling ride-hailing services for patrons when necessary.

 

The Iowa State Bar Association has suggested Iowa court data doesn’t support higher insurance rates. The organization also questions the public policy implications of placing caps on lawsuits involving intoxicated motorists.

 

The Senate bill says an establishment would be liable only if it sold and served any beer, wine, or liquor directly to the intoxicated person, and provided that the person was visibly intoxicated at the time of the sale or service.

 

Under current Iowa law, a business selling alcoholic beverages can be liable to a person for all damages resulting from an intoxicated person if the licensee or permittee sold or served the alcohol to the intoxicated person. This liability applies when the establishment knew or should have known the person was intoxicated, or when the person was served alcohol to a point where the business knew or should have known the person would become drunk.

 

Sen. Robert Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said dram shop laws perform an important public policy role, helping to cover damages for people injured in drunken driving crashes that can cost hundred of thousands of dollars, or millions of dollars. He suggested the legislation would weaken the incentives for businesses to ensure the priority of public safety as a priority.

 

Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, shared similar concerns about victims of drunken driving.

 

“The goal here is to reduce premiums. At whose expense?” he asked.

 

Sen. Michael Breitbach, R-Strawberry Point, the bill’s floor manager, defended Iowa hospitality businesses. He said owners of establishments in his northeast Iowa Senate district are cautious about serving alcoholic beverages to their customers.

 

“They watch out for them. They are their friends. They don’t want anything bad to happen to them,” Breitbach said. He recalled often taking customers home when his mother and father owned a bar.

 

Bertrand contended Iowa’s dram shop law is outdated, and he complained there are few options in western Iowa for bar owners to purchase such insurance.

 

“This is not about drunk driving. This is about lawyers and deeper pockets” to seek damages in lawsuits, Bertrand said.

 

“You and I know that this is what dram is all about.”

 

According to the Iowa Insurance Division, an examination of insurance data from Midwest states shows that state laws can have an impact on insurance rates for bars and restaurants serving alcoholic beverages. The insurance rates for Iowa tend to be higher than neighboring states and “sometimes significantly higher,” a state spokesman said.

 

A lobbyist for Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, recently testified that the pending legislation was drafted with the goal of providing a more favorable insurance environment for Iowa establishments serving alcoholic beverages. Supporters of the proposals emphasized that the measure would retain unlimited caps on lawsuit damages for other types of defendants in drunken driving cases.

 

Colleen Sheehey-Church, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, wrote a letter to Iowa lawmakers on Wednesday, saying the Senate and House bills would hurt the rights of drunk driving victims to obtain just compensation after a crash.

 

“MADD believes it is everyone’s responsibility to prevent drunk driving – which means holding establishments responsible if they overserve patrons who then drive drunk,” Sheehey-Church said.