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

Michael Zenner - CEO      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811
© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010

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

Michael Zenner - CEO      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811
© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010

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      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811

© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010

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.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811

© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010

22-year-old held in man's death - Police say he ran down victim in Mesa bar's parking lot after fight

by Allison Oswalt - Mar. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

A 22-year-old man accused of running down and killing a Mesa man near Southern Avenue and Dobson Road was arrested Wednesday on charges of second-degree murder, police said.

The victim, who has been identified as 29-year-old Antoine Beaty of Mesa, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Wednesday.

Mesa police arrested Derrick M. Antone, who admitted that he had not planned on running the victim over but only "hit him to see him fly out of the way."

The Wednesday incident at Uncle Monkey's bar in Mesa began around 2:45 a.m. as Antone was leaving the bar with several friends, police said.

Beaty asked Antone for a ride home from the bar, and Antone agreed because one of Antone's female friends wanted to "hook up" with Beaty, police said.

Beaty began arguing with one of the women and started assaulting her and another woman in the vehicle, police said.

After Antone and Beaty got out of the van and started to fight in the parking lot, the two women pulled out lug wrenches and began hitting the victim, police said.

Beaty responded by throwing rocks at the two women and then ran away, police said.

Police said Antone and the two women got back into the van with the intent to hit Beaty.

Antone told police that he did not want to hurt Beaty seriously but that he estimated he had accelerated to 35 mph while chasing him.

Police said that Antone said he ran over a curb and lost control of the vehicle, hitting a pole.

He told police he was unaware he had hit Beaty, police said.

Beaty was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police said that video surveillance shows the van driving in deliberate circles after hitting the curb and does not appear to be "out of control."

Antone was booked on charges of second-degree murder, failure to stop at an accident involving a death and extreme DUI.

Michael Zenner - CEO      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811

© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010

DRAM SHOP AWARD:

by John Pirro, Staff Writer - Thursday, March 10, 2011

DANBURY -- A lawsuit against a Candlewood Lake bar stemming from a July 2008 drunken boating accident that killed two people and injured two others has been settled without trial.

Lawyers representing Down the Hatch in Brookfield, and three of the victims -- Jason Wanat, Kevin Sullivan and William D'Addio -- agreed to the settlement Tuesday, the day that jury selection in the case had been scheduled to begin in state Superior Court.

Because of a confidentiality agreement, the amount of the settlement was not disclosed. But the state's Dram Shop Act, under which the lawsuit was filed, limits damage awards to $250,000 to be divided among all parties.

Wanat, who was killed, and Sullivan, who was critically injured, were passengers in the speedboat operated by Richard Layton Jr. that collided with D'Addio's bass boat shortly after they left the lake side bar in Brookfield.

Layton, who state Department of Environmental Protection police said had a blood-alcohol level of .19, more than twice the legal limit, was also killed in the crash.

The suit claimed employees of the bar continued to serve Layton alcohol even though he was clearly intoxicated.

"I can't talk about the numbers, but I believe all the parties were satisfied that the matter has been settled," said Danbury attorney David Bennett, who represents Sullivan.

Citing the confidentiality agreement, who represented Wanat's estate, declined to comment other than to confirm the case had been resolved.

Attorneys for D'Addio and Down the Hatch couldn't be reached Wednesday and neither could Scott Parente, permittee at Down the Hatch. The restaurant is closed for the season and two Brookfield telephone numbers listed for Parente weren't in service.

Although D'Addio, Sullivan and the Wanat estate were on the same side during the Danbury case, they are opposing parties in a much larger and more complex lawsuit pending at state Superior Court in Waterbury.

In that case, the Wanat estate and Sullivan are suing D'Addio and more than 70 other defendants, including the Candlewood Lake Authority, members of the Candlewood Lake Patrol, the New York bass fishing club that sponsored the fishing tournament in which D'Addio was a participant when the collision occurred and the municipalities bordering the lake. That case is far from ready for trial, the attorneys said.

Michael Zenner - CEO      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811

© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010

DRAM SHOP AWARD:

By DAVID OWENS,The Hartford Courant

HARTFORD — A jury has returned a $16.8 million verdict against a Hartford bar, its owner and a drunken driver who seriously injured two state troopers in 2008.

The Superior Court jury on Thursday awarded the damages to James LaPlante, a trooper who was forced to take a disability retirement as a result of the injuries he suffered when Ivan Vasquez Jr.'s 1984 Ford pickup truck careened into him and another trooper, who were out of their cars, near I-84's Asylum Avenue exit.

LaPlante, of Vernon, suffered a fractured right knee that was put back together with seven screws and a metal plate, a lower back injury that resulted in bulging discs, a sprained ankle and an injured left knee, said his lawyer, Timothy Brignole of Hartford.

Brignole, of the Brignole, Bush and Lewis law firm, sued Vasquez and the bar where he drank before the crash on July 19, 2008.

After seven days of testimony, jurors found Piggy's Café on Hawthorne Street in Hartford and its owner, Joseph A. Malick Jr., liable and awarded LaPlante $4.2 million. The jury found that Vasquez's conduct was reckless and tripled the damages against him to $12.6 million.

The injuries not only forced LaPlante into a disability retirement, but he has incurred nearly $100,000 in medical expenses and lost that much in salary, Brignole said.

Brignole said he presented the jury with evidence that Vasquez drank at least 11 beers and had a blood-alcohol level of .177 when he left the bar. At the time of the crash his blood alcohol content was .146. The legal limit is .08.

"The jury sent a message to only the bars but to drunk drivers that they will be held accountable and responsible when they injure … state troopers," Brignole said.

Ted Hieser of Essex, the lawyer for Piggy's and Malick, said the judge will reduce the jury award to $250,000, the amount he said is permitted under the state's dram shop act. The law limits the liability of bars.

Brignole said he intends to challenge that and pursue the full amount of the verdict for LaPlante.

Vasquez did not appear to defend himself in the trial.

He was found guilty in June 2009 of drunken driving and two counts of second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, given an eight-year suspended jail sentence and placed on probation for five years. He had a public defender in his criminal case.

Michael Zenner - CEO      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811

© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010

REPORTED DRAM SHOP AWARD:

Awards for damages under the Illinois Dramshop Act are limited (although the jury was not told about this), so the half-million-dollar award will be reduced to little over $100,000.

In this case, 19-year-old Jerica Klocke died after sustaining serious injuries from a motorcycle accident. She was on the back of a motorcycle driven by 24-year-old Donald Adcock, who died on the scene. Adcock became intoxicated after drinking at Thirsty's Tavern and Bawana's Nutwood Tavern, according to the article.

He reportedly did not "appear" drunk, according to witnesses, but toxicology reports showed a blood alcohol level of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit, when he died. Klocke's report showed no alcohol in her system.

The jury deliberated for four hours before returning with the verdict of liability: $500,000 for loss of relationship and $49,954.11 for medical and funeral bills (which, as stated above, will be reduced).

It's not clear to what extent bar owners and employees must monitor the drinking of every patron, but they are to some extend liable for the potential ill-effects of their sales. Let's look at the law. Plaintiffs invoking the Dramshop Act must be able to show:

1. Proof of sale of alcohol to the patron
2. Injuries sustained by the patron
3. Proximate cause between the alcohol sale and intoxication
4. Intoxication was at least one cause of the third-party damages

Unlike Dramshop laws in some other states, there is no burden of proof to show that the liquor store or bar sold alcohol to someone who already was intoxicated, which is the intent of the law.

Michael Zenner - CEO      
Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc.
eyespyspotter.com
bartheft.com  (blog)
Hospitality Checkpoint PLLC
PI Lic. 1597616
hospitalitycheckpoint.com
liquorassessment.com
PO BOX 995 Gilbert AZ 85299
Office: 480-777-7056
Toll Free: 800-880-0811

© Eye Spy Spotter Services Inc. 2010