A bill that would require all bars, and all restaurants serving alcohol, to have liability insurance covering drinking-related injury or death is making its way through the Legislature. It passed the House 145-4 earlier this month, with all Western Massachusetts reps voting for it, and is now in the Senate’s Committee on Ethics and Rules.
The law, H947, would require bars and restaurants to carry a minimum of $200,000 for injury or death involving one person and $500,000 for injury or death involving more than one person. It was filed by Rep. Peter Koutoujian of Waltham, a former Middlesex County prosecutor.
The law will add to the cost of doing business for bars and restaurants, but according to Koutoujian, 88 of the state’s 351 communities already require such coverage, and an estimated 30 to 40 percent of establishments serving liquor currently have it. If the law passes, bars and restaurants will have to have the insurance in order to obtain or renew liquor licenses.
Supporters of the bill say it will benefit employees such as bartenders and servers by lowering their risk of being sued individually in cases in which drunk customers leave the bar or restaurant and kill or injure someone by, for example, driving under the influence.
