The relevant portion of the Texas Dram Shop Act, which gives those injured by unlawful alcohol service the right to sue licensed alcohol providers that over-serve patrons reads as follows: Sec. 2.02. CAUSES OF ACTION. (. . .) (b) Providing, selling, or serving an alcoholic beverage may be made the basis of a statutory cause of action under this chapter of this code upon proof that: (1) at the time the provision occurred it was apparent to the provider that the individual being sold, served, or provided with an alcoholic beverage was obviously intoxicated to the extent that he presented a clear danger to himself and others; and (2) the intoxication of the recipient of the alcoholic beverage was a proximate cause of the damages suffered. In plain English, this portion of the Texas Dram Shop Act sets up the three conditions required before an injured person can pursue a case against a bar: The establishment must have served an obviously intoxicated person. The intoxication of the illegally served patron must have been the proximate cause of an accident. Injuries or death, and the civil damages associated with them, must have resulted from that accident. It is only when all of these conditions are met that a person can pursue a dram shop lawsuit against a bar. While some might disagree with the idea of being able to file suit against a bar at all after a drunk driving crash, because after all (they reason) it is the person who drank too much that should be responsible, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. To be clear, the Texas Dram Shop Act does not remove the drunk driver's liability for injuries that they cause to third-parties. If a guy gets drunk at a bar and plows into a minivan carrying a family, the family has just as much a right to go after the drunk driver financially as they did before it was passed. At the same time the law helps provide a remedy for what was, until El Chico v. Poole, an inconsistency that left many victims with no recourse against a negligent bar that contributed to their losses. It has been illegal for ages in Texas to sell alcohol to a person who was already drunk. Before the Texas Dram Shop Act passed, there was no civil remedy for those harmed by the actions of bars that broke the over-service law. In short, a bar could break the law, and, while they may have received a trivial fine from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, they could tell the victims who were injured by their over-service, Whatever, there's nothing you can do to us. The changes to the law meant that bars now had some civil liability for what was, and still is, an illegal behavior.