2. The Legislature finds and declares that licensed alcoholic beverage servers face great difficulty in obtaining liability insurance coverage. Even when insurance coverage is available, drastic increases in the cost of that insurance have recently taken place, and many licensed alcoholic beverage servers are no longer able to afford liability insurance coverage.

This lack of insurance adversely affects not only the licensed alcoholic beverage servers themselves, but also patrons and third persons who suffer personal injury and property damage as a result of the negligent service of alcoholic beverages by a licensed alcoholic beverage server.

In order to make it economically feasible for insurance companies to provide coverage, the incidence of liability should be more predictable. That predictability may be achieved by defining the limits of the civil liability of licensed alcoholic beverage servers in order to encourage the development and implementation of risk reduction techniques.

This act has been designed to protect the rights of persons who suffer loss as a result of the negligent service of alcoholic beverages by a licensed alcoholic beverage server while at the same time providing a balanced and reasonable procedure for allocating responsibility for such losses. It is anticipated that this act may result in the improvement of the alcoholic beverage liability insurance market in this State.

L.1987,c.152,s.2.