A 36-year-old woman met a man at PJ Clarke’s Tavern in Manhattan. After being served drinks at the bar for over five hours, they got into his Alfa Romeo Spider and within minutes he proceeded to run a red light on Park Avenue, and they were struck by a speeding taxicab. Initially, Joan S. had amnesia about the events and was unable to identify the man she met at the bar. Through investigation, we were able to gather the facts of the events, obtain the police report and determine the identity of the driver of the Alfa Romeo. It was proven through a toxicology expert at trial that the amount of alcohol consumed from the size of the drink glasses served for five hours would have been far over the legal blood alcohol limit in the driver’s system when he left the bar with Joan S. The bar was found to be responsible because the employees of the tavern either knew or should have known by their own observations that the man was drunk while they continued to serve alcohol to him.
