DRAM SHOP AWARD:
$10.5M awarded over monster-truck death
Associated Press Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:07 PM
DALLAS — The parents of a 23-year-old woman killed by a monster truck outside a gentlemen’s club have won a $10.5 million civil verdict against the driver and the club for serving him alcohol.
Kasey McKenzie died after she was run over in March 2011 by a pickup truck elevated on monster tires in the parking lot of the Spearmint Rhino club in Dallas. The driver of the truck, Eric Crutchfield, was drunk and has since pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
McKenzie’s parents, Gary McKenzie and Karen McDonald, sued Crutchfield and High Expectations Hospitality, the corporate name for Spearmint Rhino, pointing to state “dram shop” laws that allow a business to be held liable if it serves alcohol to someone who was clearly intoxicated and ended up causing harm to others.
A Dallas civil jury on Tuesday awarded $4 million to the parents for mental anguish and $3.5 million for loss of companionship, along with about $3 million in other damages and expenses.
Michael Schmidt, an attorney for McKenzie’s parents, said the club served Crutchfield 10 or more drinks and shots on the night of McKenzie’s death.
“This case basically is addressing a problem that we have, certainly in Dallas, of irresponsible establishments over-serving patrons and violating the law,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said McKenzie was hit by Crutchfield’s truck while walking in the parking lot after 2 a.m. on March 17, 2011.
According to a police report, Crutchfield “had no idea he had run over” McKenzie. A blood test after the incident showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit.
Crutchfield later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 3-year prison sentence. His probation on a drug-possession charge was also revoked and he was sent to prison for that conviction as well. He’s projected to be released in 2015, according to state prison records.
An attorney for Crutchfield, Mathew Samuel, said his client had previously settled with McKenzie’s parents and did not comment further on the verdict. An attorney for Spearmint Rhino did not return a message seeking comment.
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DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Judge puts $1M settlement from Dram Shop suit into court registry

November 27, 2012 3:44 PM

By David Yates

A Beaumont judge has placed $1 million in settlement proceeds from a Dram Shop suit into the court registry while the parties sort out who gets what.

In February, the Southeast Texas Record reported that several area residents filed a petition to take depositions, believing a local business illegally sold alcohol to minors who later died in an automobile collision.

Court records show that the petition was re-filed as a lawsuit on March 16, with Jack Smith and Dawn Fluts as plaintiffs and Triangle Marketing and its representative Hussain Ali Habib as defendants.

On Oct. 3 Judge Gary Sanderson, 6oth District Court, ordered that the suit settlement proceeds, $1 million, be placed into the court registry until a final determination of entitlement is made among the plaintiffs and lien holders, court papers say.

According to the original petition, on Sept. 17, 2011, The County Store allegedly sold minors a large quantity of alcohol, which was a proximate cause of their intoxication and the deadly car crash that followed.

In their suit, the plaintiffs allege the defendants illegally provided alcohol to the teens in violation of the law prohibiting the sale of alcohol to minors.

In addition to exemplary damages, the plaintiffs were suing for their pecuniary loss and mental anguish.

They are represented by Beaumont attorney Clay Dugas.

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DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Family of Brain-Injured Child Settles Lawsuit against a Texas Applebee’s

Posted by Mark Bello
June 04, 2012 9:22 AM

In 2009, a two-year-old child suffered extensive brain damage after the car he was riding in was struck by a repeatedly convicted drunk driver. The toddler was strapped in his car seat when a pick-up truck slammed into the back of his family’s vehicle while waiting at a red light. The intoxicated driver had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit. The child requires round-the-clock care; doctors said 80% of his brain has been destroyed he will never be able to stand, sit, walk, or speak. The child’s parents filed a lawsuit against the drunk driver and a local Applebee’s seeking $10 million to cover the child’s physical needs, past and future medical expenses, emotional and mental anguish, as well as their loss of earnings to care for their son. Three years later, the couple reached an undisclosed settlement.

Obviously, the impaired driver should be held responsible, but what about Applebee’s? Most states, including Texas, have Dram Shop Laws that hold commercial establishments accountable for injuries that result when they serve a customer that is obviously intoxicated to the point that the drunk person presents a clear danger to themselves and others. In order for a cause of action under the Texas Dram Shop Act to be successful, a plaintiff must show proof that, at the time the alcohol was served, the individual who later caused harm was obviously intoxicated to the point that he or she presented a clear danger.

Under the Dram Shop Act, a vast majority of states allow victims of drunk driving accidents (or their families) to hold restaurants and bars accountable for serious injuries or death caused by an intoxicated patron if the establishment knew, or should have known, the customer was intoxicated — a fuzzy test in application. These laws exist to ensure the public safety by making sure that alcohol-serving establishments are liable in their involvement with customers and their sale of alcohol. When these businesses are driven by profits and neglect to oversee their patron’s alcohol consumption, they can be held partially responsible for the negligence of the patron’s drunk driving accident. In Texas, a patron must be so obviously intoxicated that he presents a clear danger to himself and others. This case is an excellent example of this application of the law; the plaintiff showed proof via receipts that Applebee’s served this guy over 20 drinks in less than two hours (and let him walk out, probably to get into his car and drive away). The patron should have been visibly intoxicated; there should have been no “fuzziness” about his condition when he left Applebee’s.

The couple is still fighting to hold the drunk driver responsible for his actions; he still has not gone on trial. Although he has numerous prior convictions and charges of driving under the influence, his past convictions are not admissible due to a technicality: the convictions are from four other states and the records have been kept out of Texas courts. The couple’s pleas have not gone completely unheard; the state passed the Abdallah Khader Act (named after this innocent little boy) which doubles the amount of time that an alleged drunk driver can spend in prison for intoxication assault cases to 20 years and the amount of time someone with the blood alcohol content (BAC) of .15 or higher can spend in jail to one year.

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DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Simon Law Firm Settles Dramshop Suit for Half a Million

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) June 05, 2012
The death of University of Georgia college student Eddie Ko has been rectified by the Simon Law Firm, headed by Christopher Simon, a local car accident attorney. Atlanta citizens can also get peace of mind knowing that an irresponsible and dangerous local business has been shut down.
In 2010, Ko was killed in a drunk driving accident. Two drivers left a bar in Duluth, GA in separate vehicles. Unable to properly operate their vehicles after drinking to excess, they lost control and struck each other, and then crashed into 23 year-old Eddie Ko’s vehicle. The accident took the lives of Ko and another passenger, which was reported by CBS Atlanta. The drivers, Soon Kwon and Gho H. Lee, faced criminal charges, including vehicular manslaughter. As a wrongful death attorney, Atlanta representative Mr. Simon was able to secure policy limits from the insurance companies in the case of JEAN CHOI, as Surviving Mother of EDDIE H. KO (Deceased) versus SOON M. KWON, IN J. KWON, GHO H. LEE, TONY KA, and AKO CORPORATION, in the state court of Gwinnett County, State of Georgia Civil Action File No. 11C-04348-1.

In support of the family of Ko and the community at large, Christopher Simon took action in the same claim (Civil Action File No. 11C-04348-1) against the bar (parent company AKO Corporation) that served the alcohol. In Georgia, Dramshop Act - Civil Code § 51-1-40(b) - holds the bar legally responsible for injuries and deaths when they serve a visibly drunk customer and they are aware that he or she is driving that evening. During the litigation, the firm deposed witnesses who were drinking with the drunk drivers that night and obtained cell phone photos showing how intoxicated they were. The bar was found guilty of serving six heavily intoxicated individuals up to 15 rounds of drinks and staying open past closing to continue serving. A half a million dollars was awarded to Ko’s family in the wrongful death suit.

"Knowing that the bar will be uninsurable and likely go out of business as a result is a measure of justice for the loss of Eddie's life,” says Mr. Simon. “It also helps to protect other innocent drivers in Atlanta. It won't bring him back, but we can keep it from happening again."
The public is often not aware of how much good trial lawyers do by shutting down dangerous businesses. Mr. Simon of the Simon Law Firm has been recognized as a leader in his field in Atlanta. He was selected by Super Lawyers Magazine as a Rising Star for 2009, 2010 and 2011 and as a Super Lawyer in 2012. He was also listed on the "Legal Elite" list by Georgia Trend magazine in 2010.

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DRAM SHOP SUIT:

Family of Ravenel Bridge crash victim suing Husk restaurant

Posted by Paul Bowers on Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 2:08 PM

The family of a man who died in a Dec. 17 car crash on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is suing the owners of the award-winning downtown restaurant Husk, alleging that they allowed an employee to drink to excess before getting on the road that night.

Quentin Gregory Miller, a 32-year-old Mt. Pleasant resident, died around 4 a.m. that Saturday morning after a car driven by Husk Assistant Manager Adam Joseph Burnell crashed into the rear of Miller's vehicle, causing both cars to careen out of control. According to the lawsuit, Miller suffered blunt force trauma in the initial collision and then died an excruciating death when he was trapped inside as flames engulfed his vehicle. Burnell was arrested and charged with felony DUI, and he was released on a $52,349 surety bond Dec. 18.

Terry Miller, Quentin Miller's father and the representative of his estate, filed a lawsuit last Friday against The Neighborhood Dining Group, the company that owns Husk as well as Queen Anne's Revenge and McCrady's. In the suit, he alleges that the company allowed Burnell to drink to excess and then drive away from the restaurant. He is suing for wrongful death and survival actions; negligent hiring, retention, and supervision; negligence per se; and dram shop negligence (specifically referring to laws that hold bars liable for drunken drivers leaving their premises). He has demanded a jury trial.

One of the accusations in the lawsuit is that Neighborhood Dining Group "failed to have a policy, or failed to enforce Defendant's policy, that no agents, servants, employees or managers, such as Adam Joseph Burnell, would be allowed to remain at Husk after dinner service and after their normal shift for the purpose of consuming alcohol."

Husk and its parent company have not yet issued a response to the lawsuit, but the company publicist plans to send out an official comment later today.

The December car crash made an emotional impact on Charleston's community of food and beverage workers, as many restaurant employees knew either one of the parties involved or both. Quentin Miller worked as a bartender at Henry's downtown and on Seabrook Island.

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DRAM SHOP AWARD:

The family of a man killed by a drunk driver is suing Cisero's Nightclub and Ristorante for over-serving alcohol to a customer.

Under Utah's dram shop laws, the family of Kamas resident Jose Pineda, 23, is alleging the employees' at the Park City restaurant and nightclub gave alcohol to an inebriated patron who later crashed his car, killing himself and Pineda.

According to Third District Court documents, on February 12, 2011, Orem resident Rick Ryan Hill, 35, had drinks at Cisero's before operating a vehicle. While driving eastbound on State Road 248 in Park City, Hill crossed the median into oncoming traffic and struck Pineda who was traveling westbound. Both men died at the scene. Hill had multiple previous driving-while-intoxicated convictions and his vehicle was required to be equipped with an interlock device.

Michael Katz, the lawyer for Pineda's estate, said that Hill had been drinking at Cisero's "all day" prior to the 8:30 p.m. accident and the servers there should have cut him off and not allowed him to drive.

"Under Utah's dram shop laws, Cisero's is strictly liable for giving beverages to someone and then having them be in an accident," Katz said. "He had been drinking there for some time and they should have known he was consuming too much."

Katz said Pineda left behind a small child, mother and brother and the settlement money will go to support them.

"We are suing Cisero's for $500,000, the maximum allowed under Utah law," he said. "They are required to have dram shop insurance and we will probably settle out of court. These kinds of cases never go to court because the clubs are not anxious to have them tried. Jurors don't like the idea of restaurants over-serving patrons."

Cisero's owner Steve McComb said his workers did absolutely nothing wrong and that Hill should not have been in a bar in the first place.

"We barely served Mr. Hill anything," McComb said. "Right after the accident, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and Utah Highway Patrol did its investigation and found we had done nothing wrong. At the time, we determined we had served him a beer and a shot I think. That was it. He could have had alcohol in his truck or a six pack outside in the snow, that happens and we cannot control it."

McComb added that this is the first time an incident like this has happened in his 30 years of working in the nightclub business and that all of his employees are certified to stop serving someone when they appear intoxicated.

"We have a standing policy that any employee who over-serves someone is fired and in this incident our employees did nothing wrong. This man obviously had a problem and there was no way for us to know this," he said.

As of Thursday, McComb had not been served with the lawsuit. Katz said they filed the lawsuit sooner than they would have liked because the statue of limitations was running out. Katz said they are also filing a lawsuit against Hill's estate.

Utah's dram shop laws

Under Utah's dram shop statute, bars and restaurants can be considered liable for injuries to any third person resulting from intoxication if they served alcohol to an intoxicated person, or to the point of intoxication or impairment. An employer is liable for the actions of their employees. The establishment cannot be sued for more than $500,000 per person or $1,000,000 per incident and must have dram shop insurance. Dram shop is a legal term referring to a place where alcohol is served.

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DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011

By Deanna Boyd

FORT WORTH -- The family of a woman killed in December 2009 when an intoxicated off-duty Fort Worth police officer plowed into her car has sued the now-imprisoned man.

Relatives of Sonia Baker allege that Jesus Cisneros' actions that early December morning constituted gross negligence and were the result of "conscious indifference" to the safety, rights and welfare of Baker. The family is seeking unspecified damages.

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 3 in Tarrant County.

Cisneros, who resigned from the Police Department shortly after the wreck, pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter during his trial in November and was sentenced by a jury to the maximum of 20 years in prison.

During the trial, Cisneros took the stand and admitted broadsiding Baker's PT Cruiser about 2:15 a.m. on Dec. 11, 2009, after drinking eight beers and four shots of liquor during another officer's birthday party at the Pour House on West Seventh Street. He had actually begun drinking while still on duty as part of an unauthorized undercover investigation into human trafficking.

Cisneros also acknowledged speeding through two red lights in his city-owned vehicle before the wreck at Columbus Trail and Evening Star Drive. Tests revealed a 0.17 blood-alcohol level.

Baker, a married dialysis technician with two sons, now ages 5 and 6, was on her way to a fast-food restaurant to get breakfast for her family. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Baker's family had sued the Pour House under the state's Dram Shop Act, which allows those who sell alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person to be held liable for resulting damages.

According to Tarrant County records, that suit was dismissed in March after the parties reached a settlement in which the bar and its affiliates agreed to pay almost $600,000

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DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Saturday, July 23, 2011

A former gas station attendant has won a multi-million dollar award in damages in a lawsuit arising from a drunk driver accident in 2008. Witnesses said Barron Hilton was driving his Mercedes-Benz the wrong way on the Pacific Coast Highway before the being involved in an accident with the gas station employee. A companion of the hotel heir said Hilton was involved in at least one accident as he drove his car near Malibu earlier in the day. Eventually, Hilton pulled into a gas station in Malibu.

It was in the lot that witnesses say Hilton struck the gas station attendant with his Mercedes-Benz. Police claimed Hilton was involved in a drunk driving accident. The hotel heir was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs after the crash. His blood alcohol content was measured at .14 after the crash and Hilton pled no contest to the DUI charge. The hotel heir was 18 at the time of the crash.

The gas station attendant who was struck in February 2008 filed a personal injury lawsuit against Hilton in relation to the California car accident. The man required extensive surgeries due to the injuries he sustained in the accident. The man says he is permanently disabled as a result of the personal injuries.

Hilton denies he was driving the car on the night of the accident. He says he has amnesia and only remembers sitting on a bench after the crash.

A judgment in the civil suit was entered earlier this month awarding damages to the gas station attendant. The award includes damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses and loss of earnings. Additionally, the judgment includes punitive damages. California law allows victims of drunk driver accidents to seek punitive damages in a civil suit related to the accident.

Source: Los Angeles Times

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DRAM SHOP AWARD:

June 15 2011

WESTMINSTER Md. A record-setting judgment from a Carroll County jury which awarded almost $12 million to the crippled victim of a drunk driving accident.

Derek Valcourt reports the decision came like a surprise in the conservative county where juries arent known to dole out large awards in lawsuits.

Part of the reason the $11.8 million verdict was such a surprise is since the event that crippled the victim was little more than a fender bender.

What happened at a Westminster intersection almost five years ago forever altered Michael Harris life. Its not only changed me except its changed my entire family Harris said.

While Harris sat at a red light on Route 140 he was rear-ended by repeat drunk driver Stephanie Ann Richardson who later fled the scene. Though the minor event barely damaged his lorry doctors trust it triggered a rare nerve condition called complex regional pain syndrome leaving the once energetic landscaper wheelchair-bound with crippling pain and lesions on his armament and legs.

His family hired Robert Weltchek and his law partners to sue the drunk driver and her insurance company. A Carroll County jury rejected the defenses arguments that Harris medical problems were not caused by the accident and awarded him $2.6 million for future medical expenses $800000 for past and future lost wages $256000 to modify his home $5.6 million for non-economic damages and $2.5 million for the effect on his marriage.
It was evident to the jury that this car accident albeit a relatively minor car accident caused this cascading of events a downward spiral that continues to this day said Weltchek.

The massive judgment means peace of mind for Harris like he tries to live with the crippling condition.

DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Michael Zenner - CEO      
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Debra Friedman, Staff Writer greenwichtime.com - Updated 09:57 p.m., Thursday, May 5, 2011

STAMFORD -- A national restaurant chain has agreed to pay $1.5 million to the family of a 20-year-old Riverside man who was killed in a 2008 drunken-driving accident, according to court records.

The settlement came just as lawyers for Dave & Buster's and the family of Joseph Borselio were getting ready to pick a jury during the initial phases of a trial in state Superior Court.

Borselio, 20, was killed in September 2008 while riding his bicycle after Douglas Moore, 25, of Riverside, struck him during a late-night accident on Sheephill Road.

Moore was driving home from Dave & Buster's in West Nyack, N.Y., at the time of the accident. Lawyers for the Borselio family claimed the restaurant chain, which is based in Texas, overserved Moore. The restaurant denied those claims.

"It was resolved as part of confidential settlement agreement," said Borselio family Attorney Eric Smith, of the Stratton Faxon law firm. "As you would expect, this was yet another very stressful time for the family, so they were pleased to be able to put this matter behind them."

A message seeking comment on the settlement was left with representative for Dave & Buster's.

Although the settlement was listed as confidential -- and Smith declined to release or discuss the dollar amount -- the figures were recently filed with the Greenwich probate court. A probate court judge must sign off on the agreement before it is finalized.

"Dave & Buster's and or its insurers are willing to tender the (gross) sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars in full and final settlement of the claims pursuant to a confidential settlement," states a probate court memo written by Smith.

The memo states the restaurant still disputes the Borselios' allegations, despite agreeing to the payout.

After deducting attorneys fees and expenses relating to the case, Smith estimated that the Borselio family would receive between $900,000 and $975,000, according to the memo.

That sum will be in addition to the $300,000 the family received from Moore's insurance company last year as part of the same lawsuit.

In addition to Moore, four restaurant senior executives were named in the 2009 lawsuit, which invoked a dram shop law whereby commercial establishments may be held liable for injuries or deaths that result from patrons involved in drunken-driving accidents.

Police said Moore, who is serving four years in jail, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.21 the night of the crash. The legal limit is 0.08.

Lawyers for the restaurant planned to call Moore and several Dave & Buster's managers to the stand to show that he was not overserved. They also planned to call several people who are listed as witnesses as well as economists and officials from the Greenwich Board of Education and ShopRite, who were to present school and employment records. Borselio worked at ShopRite in Stamford at the time of his death.

Lawyers for Borselio's family planned to call Greenwich medical personnel, several witnesses and police officers and family members. An economist and other experts were also expected to testify about Borselio's potential life earnings, although Dave & Buster's was trying to block some of those experts from taking the stand, according to court records.

A probate court judge is set to rule on the proposed settlement amount on June 2.

DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Michael Zenner - CEO      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
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PI Lic. 1597616
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liquorassessment.com
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Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811

© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010