According to a Fox 6 news report, Tuscaloosa County recently passed an ordinance allowing Uber drivers in the County, but Uber must hold One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) of general liability insurance. If an Uber driver kills someone, you may be able to recover $1,000,000.00 (see previous post here for the reason I say “may”). This is very interesting because our law places a much lower financial burden on retail establishments which might sell alcohol to minors or obviously intoxicated individuals who then go out and kill someone.
Under the ABC Board Regulations, an establishment which sells alcohol only has to carry $100,000 of liquor liability coverage. Here is the regulation:
20X5.14Requirements Of Financial Responsibility ByLicensees.(1) All retail licensees of the ABC Board shallmaintain, at all times, liquor liability (dram shop) insurancedescribed below and shall comply with the following conditions ofrequirements of Financial Responsibility.(a) Prior to the issuance or renewal of any retailalcoholic beverage license, each applicant must provide the ABCBoard with sufficient information that it has
liquor liability(dram shop) insurance coverage in the amount of at least onehundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) per occurrence, exclusiveof, and separate from, any attorney fees or other costs incurredin the defense of any claim asserted against the insured.(b) This information may be provided as follows:1. A certificate of liability insurance from areputable insurance company showing that the applicant has
liquorliability (dram shop) insuranceof at least one hundred thousanddollars ($100,000.00) for each occurrence, that the certificateis for liability coverage only exclusive of, and separate from,any attorney fees or other costs incurred in the defense of anyclaim asserted against the insured and that coverage is valid forthe license year for which the application is being submitted;When it comes to hitching a ride, the company cannot come into our territories without one million dollars worth of coverage. But, you can serve alcohol to minors and drunk drivers all you want and let them drive away and kill someone for $100,000. Once again, our lawmakers make no sense. At least we will now have Uber so that some of these drunk drivers may no longer drive.Let Lewis, Feldman & Lehane, LLC know your thoughts on this issue by commenting below.
