Car accidents are too often caused by drunk drivers. In many states, if the driver consumed alcohol at a bar when the establishment should have known that its patron was becoming intoxicated or was habitually intoxicated, the bar may be held liable for the car accident. These cases, often referred to as Dram Shop Act claims, can result in large awards due to the public’s awareness of the dangers of allowing drunk drivers on our roadways.

A recent case involved the payment of $20 million to settle a claim brought on behalf of a bar that was hit with a $75 million verdict in a Dram Shop Act suit after the insurer refused to settle the case for the bar’s policy limit of $1 million. The insurer’s failure to do the right thing and settle the case provides yet another example of insurance companies efforts to increase profit at the expense of both the injured car accident victim and their own insured.

According to court papers, the driver had pleaded guilty to a drunken driving charge in connection with the accident, but testified in the civil trial that his guilty plea was motivated by a desire to avoid jail time, and that he was not drunk at the time of the accident. Although his blood-alcohol level was high at the time of his arrest, the driver testified that before the accident he had consumed just one-and-a-half bottles of beer at a local bar and that he had several drinks after the accident before police tracked him down.

Of course, the jurors had no difficulty disbelieving the testimony of the drunk driver and assessed a significant award to the seriously injured victim. Indeed, the evidence revealed that the plaintiff was working as a flagman on a road-paving project. The driver was so impaired that he failed to see the stopped traffic, struck the plaintiff at high speed and then fled the scene. Certainly, this case demonstrates both horrible conduct on the part of the driver and the insurance company for gambling with the interests of its insured.