Drunk Driving Crashes and Oregon Dram-Shop and Social-Host Law

When a drunk driver causes a crash, Oregon law can also reach a bar or other business licensed by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, a holder of a commission permit, or a social host that served the driver while the driver was visibly intoxicated. That claim is a common-law negligence claim, and ORS 471.565 limits it: the statute adds proof requirements and, for damages caused off the server's premises, a notice deadline.

The claim against the server

In Deckard v. Bunch, the Oregon Supreme Court said that "a host may be liable for serving a visibly intoxicated guest who drives a car and injures a third person."¹ There, the injured plaintiff sued both the other driver and the social host who had served that driver.¹ Our Oregon car accident overview covers claims against the driver.

ORS 471.565 covers "a person licensed by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, a person holding a permit issued by the commission or a social host".² In Baker v. Croslin, the Supreme Court explained that, under one of its earlier decisions, "social host" applies to "one who has control of choosing who will be served."³ A separate statute, ORS 471.410(1), provides that "A person may not sell, give or otherwise make available any alcoholic liquor to any person who is visibly intoxicated."⁴

What ORS 471.565(2) requires

A licensee, permittee or social host "is not liable for damages caused by intoxicated patrons or guests unless the plaintiff proves by clear and convincing evidence that" two conditions are met.²

• Service while visibly intoxicated. The server "served or provided alcoholic beverages to the patron or guest while the patron or guest was visibly intoxicated …".²
• No substantial contribution by the plaintiff. The plaintiff "did not substantially contribute to the intoxication of the patron or guest" by providing or furnishing alcohol to the drinker, by encouraging the drinker "to consume or purchase alcoholic beverages or in any other manner", or by facilitating "the consumption of alcoholic beverages by the patron or guest in any manner."²

The second condition looks at the injured person's own role in the drinking. Deckard explains that the 2001 version of subsection (2) was intended to limit an earlier decision involving an injured passenger who had bought some of the driver's alcohol.¹

Deckard also held that "ORS 471.565(2) does not provide a right of action against alcohol providers that has elements independent of a claim for common-law negligence."¹ The court explained that the legislature approved the common-law negligence standard from one of its earlier decisions, "including the requirement that a plaintiff must establish that, when he or she served a visibly intoxicated person, the defendant knew or should have known of an unreasonable risk of harm to an injured third party."¹

How the court has read "visibly intoxicated"

Baker was not a crash case: a party guest was killed during horseplay with loaded handguns, and his estate sued the host.³

Timing. The court wrote that "the social host must be shown to have done so while—that is, during a time when—the patron or guest was visibly intoxicated."³

An objective test, from the host's view. The court said "the focus is whether the patron or guest is visibly intoxicated to the social host" and that "the test is an objective one."³ The question is "whether the patron or guest is in such a state that his or her intoxication may be said to be conspicuous to, or readily observable by, the social host, whether or not the host has the subjective belief that the patron or guest in fact is intoxicated."³

No duty to watch every guest. The court said "nothing in the wording of ORS 471.565(2) suggests that a social host is under an obligation to continuously monitor all patrons or guests to determine whether they become intoxicated."³

"Provided" is broad. The court read "provided" to reach a host who buys alcohol and makes it available to guests. The court added that it "would seem to follow" that a host who becomes aware that a guest has become visibly intoxicated "is not entitled to the protections of the statute to the extent that he or she continues to make alcohol available to that visibly intoxicated guest."³ Whether the host exercised that kind of control over the alcohol supply while the guest was visibly intoxicated was, the court said, "one of fact."³

Serving minors

For third persons injured by an underage drinker, ORS 471.567(1) begins "Notwithstanding ORS 471.130 and 471.565," and provides that "no licensee, permittee or social host shall be liable to third persons injured by or through persons under the age of 21 years who obtained alcoholic beverages from the licensee, permittee or social host unless it is demonstrated that a reasonable person would have determined that identification should have been requested or that the identification exhibited was altered or did not accurately describe the person to whom the alcoholic liquor was sold or served."⁵

The notice deadline

Except as subsection (4) provides, ORS 471.565(3) says an action "for damages caused by intoxicated patrons or guests off the premises" of a licensee, permittee or social host "may be brought only if the person asserting the claim has given the licensee, permittee or social host the notice required by subsection (5) of this section within the following time periods".²

• Wrongful death: notice "must be given within one year after the date of death, or within one year after the date that the person asserting the claim discovers or reasonably should have discovered the existence of a claim under this section, whichever is later."²
• Other injuries: notice "must be given within 180 days after the injury occurs, or within 180 days after the person asserting the claim discovers or reasonably should have discovered the existence of a claim under this section, whichever is later."²

Under subsection (4), the period excludes any time during which the claimant is under 18; is unable to give notice because of the injury or because of being financially incapable, as defined in ORS 125.005; is incapacitated, as defined in ORS 125.005; or cannot determine that the server is liable because the drinker asserts the right against self-incrimination and cannot be compelled to reveal the server's identity or the facts that would establish the server's liability.²

Subsection (5) treats notice as given through formal notice, actual notice, an action commenced within the notice period, or any payment on the claim by or on behalf of the server.² Under subsection (7), "actual notice" means a communication that gives the server actual knowledge of the time, place and circumstances of the claim, where a reasonable person would conclude that a particular person intends to assert a claim against the server.² Formal notice must be in writing, mailed or personally served, and must state that a claim for damages is made, describe the time, place and circumstances so far as known to the claimant, and give the claimant's name and mailing address.²

Filing deadlines come from other statutes. ORS 12.110(1) provides that an action "for any injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract, and not especially enumerated in this chapter, shall be commenced within two years …".⁶ For a death, ORS 30.020(1) requires filing "within three years after the injury causing the death of the decedent is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered" by the decedent, the personal representative or a non-wrongdoer beneficiary, and never later than the earliest of three years after the death or the longest applicable statute of ultimate repose.⁷ See our Oregon wrongful death page.

Police must notify the OLCC or the social host named as the server

Under ORS 471.703, police must notify the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission of an alleged licensee or permittee provider when they investigate a crash that injures someone other than the driver or damages their property, the driver appears to have been drinking, and an alcohol-related citation is issued or could have been issued had the driver survived.⁸ The commission must keep a copy of the notice in its files, and that copy "shall be open to inspection by the person injured or damaged by the motor vehicle operator or a representative of the person."⁸ When a social host is named as the provider in those circumstances, police must notify the host.⁸

Claims by the drinker

Under ORS 471.565(1), a patron or guest who voluntarily drinks "does not have a cause of action, based on statute or common law, against the person serving the alcoholic beverages, even though the alcoholic beverages are served to the patron or guest while the patron or guest is visibly intoxicated."² In Bonner v. American Golf Corp. of California, the Oregon Supreme Court held that, for purposes of ORS 471.565(1), a person who has lost "the sense of reason and volition" does not "voluntarily consume[ ] alcoholic beverages."⁹ In Schutz v. La Costita III, Inc., the court held that subsection (1) protects servers and hosts only for what they did in their roles as servers or hosts.¹⁰ The subsection (1) bar applies "only to claims for relief based on injury, death or damages caused by intoxication", not to claims based on other negligent or intentional acts.²

Our article on Oregon comparative negligence explains how Oregon shares fault among the parties to a claim.

This article is educational

This article describes Oregon law in general terms. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Time limits matter. Most Oregon personal-injury and auto-accident claims must be filed within two years of the injury or accident. Medical malpractice claims must be filed within two years of when you knew or reasonably should have known of the negligence, with an outer limit of five years from the act itself (with a fraud exception). Wrongful death claims must be filed within three years of the date of death. Claims against public bodies (cities, counties, state agencies, public hospitals) require a notice of claim within 180 days. Missing these deadlines typically ends a case.

If you think you may have a claim, call Huegli Law at 971-317-6436 for a free case review. Todd Huegli is licensed in Oregon and consults on cases in Oregon only.

Footnotes

1. Deckard v. Bunch, 358 Or 754 (2016). Oregon Judicial Department (ContentDM). https://ojd.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17027coll3/id/5546 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. ORS 471.565 — Liability for providing or serving alcoholic beverages to intoxicated person; notice of claim. Oregon State Legislature. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors471.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

3. Baker v. Croslin, 359 Or 147 (2016). Oregon Judicial Department (ContentDM). https://ojd.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17027coll3/id/1388 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. ORS 471.410 — Providing liquor to person under 21 or to intoxicated person. Oregon State Legislature. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors471.html ↩

5. ORS 471.567 — Liability for providing alcoholic beverages to minor. Oregon State Legislature. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors471.html ↩

6. ORS 12.110 — Actions for certain injuries to person not arising on contract. Oregon State Legislature. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html ↩

7. ORS 30.020 — Action for wrongful death; when commenced; damages. Oregon State Legislature. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors030.html ↩

8. ORS 471.703 — Police notice to commission or social host when certain persons involved in motor vehicle accidents. Oregon State Legislature. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors471.html ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Bonner v. American Golf Corp. of California, 372 Or 814 (2024). Oregon Judicial Department (ContentDM). https://ojd.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17027coll3/id/12630 ↩

10. Schutz v. La Costita III, Inc., 364 Or 536 (2019). Oregon Judicial Department (ContentDM). https://ojd.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17027coll3/id/7526 ↩