Now I know bartenders have to not over serve a customer as well as not let a clearly drunk customer drive home, they even have to take courses/get a license to serve.
Say a drunk customer at the end of the night goes to leave (the bartender knows they plan on driving) at that point the bartender should say to the drunk customer “hey I cant let you drive home, you have to call a ride/walk/ or we will even call an Uber for you”
but let’s say the customer refuses and does not comply? Is the bartender supposed to just take the car keys anyway and not let them leave? What is the bartender supposed to do?
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Depends if you over served them or not. I’d say the responsibility to the bar/bartender ends at the edge of their property, but I am not getting stabbed or shot because I tried to stop some drunk idiot from driving. I would call the cops, fine them their plates and say job well done.
I’m a bartender in California, everything I’ve always been told is that if we over serve them at all, we’re liable.
Obviously there’s a lot of gray areas but I have heard of at least two incidents in ten years where someone died driving home and the bartender was hit with a gigantic fine.
>as well as not let a clearly drunk customer drive home
I doubt they are required to do this part. Bartenders aren’t required to get into physical altercations with people to take their keys away. They aren’t supposed to over serve which they can only get in trouble for if you have video or witnesses that he was obviously to drunk to be served more.
[Here was an incident](https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/family-euless-detective-killed-dwi-crash-suing-fuzzys-tacos-liability-negligence/287-230aeb1e-168b-4174-9f1b-e2ea50c06baf) that happened just down the street from where I was living at the time.
I’m a regular at two neighborhood bars and know all of the staff at both. They will both over serve me if I want to keep going and not being sloppy/passing out because they know I don’t own a car and live near by and walk.
If someone crashes while DUI and they find evidence. Or the driver admits they were drinking there, that’s noted . The crash victims can sue the bar for damages beyond what the driver’s insurance coverage provides.
Bars with a record of DUI stops can loose their license.
There was a premium cocktail joint here in Tacoma the 21 club that had great happy hour specials. They served martinis and other drinks with premium pours in large glasses that held 2 or 3 shots worth of liquor…and many folks would order 2 drinks not realizing that they had 6 servings of alcohol. They had the highest number of DUI arrests in the state and lost their license.
I’ve seen staff trying to keep a drunk from driving home once tried to block a lady who got royally angry and nearly ran me over. (I called 911 and gave them the license and make of car)
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