Don’t I have to be completely sober to sign a legal contract?
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Don’t I have to be completely sober to sign a legal contract?
I was at a bar and rode a mechanical bull but fell off. I went to the hospital and found that I tore my rotator cuff in my right shoulder. I realize that I signed a waiver but I had been drinking.
Asked on January 26, 2015 under Personal Injury, Oregon
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
Voluntarily intoxication is not a defense to a contract: the courts hold that since you chose to get drunk, you are liable for the consequences of that choice (the same way, for example, that a DUI/DWI driver can't say, "but I didn't know what I was doing because I was drunk" and escap liability). Only involuntary intoxication--being drugged; having an unxpected or unpredicted drug interaction between medicines you are taking; being given something to drink without being told what it is--might provide a defense.
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