Photo by Dan Dan the Binary Man.

At Mongtomery County Circuit Judge Eric Johnson’s fingertips: whether Maryland will join with most of the country by imposing some liability on bars for the drunken actions of its customers. Johnson is currently drafting a decision on whether or not to allow a civil suit against Dogfigh Head Alehouse in Gaithersburg to move forward to trial, calling into question the status — or lack — of dram shop laws in the state of Maryland.

In the case, the guardians for a 10-year-old, who was killed in a car crash with a drunk driver, is suing the alehouse for $3.25 million for allowing the driver to leave the establishment in an obvious inebriated state. Evidence shows that the driver, Michael Eaton, rang up two tabs at the alehouse tallying up 17 beers and three shots. In April, Judge Johnson said that the restaurant “should have predicted that the man might drive recklessly and kill or seriously injure someone.” Eaton’s lawyers still assert that Maryland has no laws that put Dogfish Head at fault.

According to the Gazette, 44 states, including the District, have some sort of dram shop laws that hold vendors at least partially liable for damages that result from a drunk driving incident. Virginia is also in the minority of states that do not have such laws.

Judge Johnson’s eagerness to make a mark on alcohol liability laws goes as far as to be called judicial activism, as laws of these sorts have typically fallen to legislatures to be enacted. D.C. ABRA regulations require licensed managers to take Training for Intervention Procedures (TIPS) as a prerequisite, while many establishments push everyday servers and bartenders to do the same — both to cover their liabilities and as a good, common sense practice. But perhaps it’s about time vendors and alcohol servers take legal responsibility for a substance that inherently impairs judgment.