Arkansas Supreme Court
LITTLE ROCK - Blaming the barkeep for your DUI wreck just took a big hit in Arkansas. The Supreme Court today dismissed a second appeal by a couple who tried to sue Bennigan's Grill and Tavern of Texarkana for injuries the husband sustained in a wreck after drinking at Bennigan's (Sluder and Sluder vs. Steak Ale of Little Rock, Inc. #06-638) In dismissing their first appeal, the court ruled that the couple could not sue Bennigan's under the Arkansas Dramshop Act because they "failed to establish a connection between the sale of alcohol by Bennigan's and the subsequent injury." The Sluders were given alcohol bought by another man, and the Sluders claimed that because he was clearly intoxicated, Bennigan's had been negligent in not cutting him off. The Sluders then amended and re-filed their original complaint but the Supreme Court ruled that because they appealed their complaint's original dismissal "the Sluders were bared from further litigating this action."