NL- of course I am glad that a obvious victim’s family was given some monetary compensation for her death. But I am troubled by the outcome that finds the guy who got drunk, drove, ran over and killed a young lady to be only 30% liable, while the club who served him some of the alcohol to be 70% liable. This is because of the Dram shop law, that holds liquor licensed establishments liable for serving a drunk person additional alcohol. This law has always bothered me, because it takes the responsiblitiy away from the person commiting the crime. If a pharmacist fills a prescription for painkillers for a person who seems spacy (maybe because they have already taken drugs) and the person takes too many of the prescription drugs and commits a crime, is the druggist liable? Or am I totally off the mark here? What do you think? And why is anyone driving this kind of a vehicle on city streets? The death is a tragedy. But the liablity of the Spearmint Rhino is over the top too. The SR is being held liable for the (supposed) mistake of a bartender in their club who served someone too many drinks. Again, no personal liablity…
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/
A Dallas court has awarded $10.5 million to the family of a young woman who was fatally crushed by a monster truck in the parking lot of a strip club.
Kasey McKenzie, 23, was run over on March 17, 2011, when Eric Crutchfield left the Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen’s Club after several hours of drinking. Blood tests later showed that Crutchfield — who drove a Ford-F250 with gigantic wheels — had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
In a unanimous verdict, the jury awarded the multi-million dollar sum to McKenzie’s parents, who claimed that the bar overserved Crutchfield and was therefore responsible for their daughter’s death.
"We believe that obviously he was intoxicated; it was apparent to the bartender and the club that he was intoxicated, and he got behind the wheel of his monster truck and ran over Kasey McKenzie," Michael Schmidt, the attorney for McKenzie’s parents, told NBC DFW.
McKenzie, who worked at the club, died on the scene from her injuries, according to CBS.
The strip club was found responsible under the "dram shop" doctrine, which states that "restaurants, bars and liquor stores can be held liable if they serve alcohol to customers who are clearly intoxicated," according to the Dallas Morning News.
A Dallas Police Department account of the incident claimed that Crutchfield’s truck was so enormous that despite crushing McKenzie with his front and rear tires, he initially had no idea of the tragedy.
Crutchfield is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for manslaughter.
My oldest son has had TIPS training. This training is designed to help you in determining whether to serve someone or not. If a bartender ignores the training they are held liable in certain states.
Our country is getting crazy with lawsuits to win big paydays without having to work for a living. That may not entirely apply in this instance but how about the fuckup that drove the monster car be responsible for his actions?