my (black) friends had to much. They were acting perfectly normal, and I was driving, they were riding. Should I file for a lawsuit. I tried to buy the alcohol and she still refused. Help Me!! I hadn't even had a drink and she said I had to much also!! I know the law saids alcohol can't be purchased after 2:00 am but it was about 1:00am!!
2007-08-03 19:02:11 · 14 answers · asked by Marvin B 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Sorry pal no lawsuit.
Anyone who sells alchol can refuse service if they feel that there is a reasonable reason for it.
2007-08-03 19:22:45 · answer #1 · answered by uhwarriorfan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let us take this slowly...
You do not have standing to file lawsuit because your friends were unable to buy booze. They were the ones who were refused service.
If you decide to pursue this, pursue it because you were refused service. You do have standing for this action.
But, it is going to be tough. As mentioned, a clerk has the right to refuse service to most anyone. An exception would be a refusal based on race or sexual preference or some other protected class. Do you fit into a protected class? Your friends have their own thing to do. You cannot use their race as a factor for you personally.
Where it gets tough is proving she refused service because of a protected class. She can testify to why she refused service including any indicators of intoxication she saw. The jury gets to weigh her testimony against yours & your friends' testimony. But remember she just made you all out to be intoxicated so the jury is likely to take that into consideration. A drunk usually does not remember things very well. And to even make this a case, you will all have to testify that you were out buying booze at 1AM. A lot of jurists may hold that against you. That is not the time a lot of people start drinking or start a party.
Where you may have some help proving you were not intoxicated is if the store has a surveillance system. IF a video of the incident exists, it maybe helpful to show you were acting normal (as you put it). The video may also show a couple of things that could hurt your argument. What you consider "acting normal" maybe not appear normal to the jurists. Or, you may appear intoxicated in a video. And that is if the video still exists. To save $$$, the tapes get used over & over. Even if there was a tape, the incident may have been taped over by now.
So, you ask can you sue. Sure you can. In America, people have the right to file suit for just about anything. But just filing a lawsuit isn't fun. Winning is fun. Attorneys usually do not take cases they think they will lose. So your 1st hurdle will be to find an attorney who thinks this is a winning case. Your next hurdle will be to find the cash to pay this attorney cause these folks do not go to law school to give away their talent.
Now it's decision time. Go for it or shut up & just boycott that store in the future?
2007-08-03 19:47:38 · answer #2 · answered by XPig 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A clerk has the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. Aside from that, it is illegal for a clerk to sell alcohol to anyone that she believes is drunk, whether they are or not. It is also illegal for her to sell it to another party if she believes they will give it to the drunk person, as in your case or that or a minor. She was acting within the law if she truly believed the above criteria was met. You would have to prove that there was some kind of discrimination, which would be almost impossible.
The fact that no one was drunk cannot be proven, so that cannot be considered by a judge, unless you had substantial testimony from independent witnesses to that affect, like the pastor you had just spent the previous hours with. Get it? Just give it up and move on. If you stay in your own neighborhood, you won't have any problems (it's all good, don'tcha know?) LOL.
2007-08-03 19:17:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They tell students in law school that "you can sue the bishop of Boston for bastardy". In other words, yes, you can file a lawsuit. What they expect the students to understand that filing a suit isn't necessarily a smart move.
She not only has the right to refuse to sell alcohol to anyone who appears impaired, she has that *duty*. When you attempted to buy alcoholic beverages only after they were refused, she was being responsible by declining to sell to you, because you would have turned the alcohol over to them.
Someone cannot refuse to sell to you because you're black. That's a protected class. There is no similar protection for the class consisting of drunks.
You really ought to get a bouquet of nice flowers and deliver it to you, along with an apology. The more alcohol the store sells, the more money they make. She was forfeiting profits in order to keep you and your friends out of jail, and possibly out of the morgue. You owe her, big time.
2007-08-03 19:17:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, no matter what race ANY person in the transaction is INCLUDING the cashier the companies instruct their employees not to sell alcohol to people who may be under the influence already. No person that looks to be under a certain age (depending on the state they are in) etc...they don't have to sell it to ya.
you could waste everyone's time filing a lawsuit - but just give it up. The race card has been overplayed tooooo many times anyway. this is the 2000's!!!
2007-08-03 20:08:52 · answer #5 · answered by Kmmv 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's illegal to sell alcohol to drunken person. Cashiers can refuse sale of alcohol on any suspicion of drunkenness, drunken driving...etc. They're gona laugh at your face if you do try filing a lawsuit.
Do you really have to have that beer at 1 in morning? You couldn't go to other store just down the block?
They can also refuse if they suspect some might give alcohol to minors. Call the police next time and see what happens.
2007-08-03 19:15:31 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
With the number of lawsuits in the past few years, alcohol providers are liable to err on the side of caution. I doubt anyone would fault the clerk for playing it safe, and unless you all had a blood alcohol test taken at the time, it's your word against hers.
2007-08-03 19:08:03 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, you cannot file a lawsuit if your friends were refused.
Your friends can file a lawsuit if they were refused because of their race -- but not for most other reasons.
And a bar can generally refuse to serve anyone for any reasons (except race).
2007-08-04 03:18:53 · answer #8 · answered by coragryph 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In most jurisdictions, it is against the law to sell alcohol to somebody who is visibly intoxicated. Forget the lawsuit.
2007-08-04 02:36:36 · answer #9 · answered by Mark 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you look around in the store, you will probably see a sign that says that lady has the right to refuse service to anyone. Get over it. One scared little racist won't sell you liquor, so you want to take her to court, which would *guarantee* that she'll hate all races besides her own for the rest of her life. Brilliant. Just frickin' brilliant. Just go to another store for your booze. Who cares where you buy it. It tastes the same, costs pretty much the same....sheesh. Who cares if your friends were black? How is that relevant? She probably just thought you looked like trouble. You want to prove she was right?
Just. Get. Over. It.
2007-08-03 19:10:23 · answer #10 · answered by rainbeauclown 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
You won't get any legal help.
They were at least a little intoxicated, they must have done something she didn't feel comfortable with, you would have no case. Stores can refuse service for a LOT of reasons.
2007-08-03 19:07:22 · answer #11 · answered by patrickandamie 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋