Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Suing the bar that served drunk driver

From the NY Post:

The family of a doctoral student killed last year by a drunken driver is suing the popular Queens bar that allegedly kept serving the man until his blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, a lawyer said yesterday.

A suit will soon be filed against the Cavo Lounge, of Astoria, according to Scott Rynecki, one of the lawyers for the family of Panayiota Demetriou.

Demetriou and cabby Bessy Velasquez were killed when Daryush Omar ran a red light in the early-morning hours of Nov. 16.

"We are looking for justice," Demetriou's family said. "We want to protect other families so they won't go through this."

Rynecki said the suit would be filed under the rarely used Dram Shop Act, which holds establishments civilly liable for serving the visibly drunk.

7 comments:

Joe said...

The "KILLER" from the Religion of PEACE was tresspassing in this country (illegal)and was already ordered deported for beating a woman.
That did not happen for some reason
http://news.pseka.net/index.php?module=article&id=10540

NEW YORK — A man who had already been ordered deported and charged in a deadly beating has pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter in connection with a crash that killed two people.

Daryush (dahr-YOOSH) Omar entered the plea Wednesday in a Queens court. The 25-year-old expects up to 10 1/2 years in prison at his sentencing, set for Sept. 9

If it werent for the sumbag Mayors santuary city policy this young girl & cab driver would be alive today.

You can now cop a plea for double murder in NYC ?

-Joe

Anonymous said...

Daryush Omar's story is so disturbing & frustrating The NYC Mayor, Police Commissioner and Obama should all be nominated for a free trip's to Hell.

A Sanctuary city, Impotent lax immigration policies combined with revolving door Justice system.

Omar, 24, of Queens is illegal foreign national criminal from Afghanistan !
Like many other pieces of sh** flooding into Queens under Bloombergs Sanctuary City Program.

Get out and vote Queens or any qualiety of life is history

Anonymous said...

Time to reacquaint everyone with the dram shop laws and the social host laws as well.

My father was a bartender for decades and he cut many patrons off. Of course, sometimes they walk from place to place drinking heavily in each and are not visibly drunk when served. That can be a problem.

But I have been reading stories here about places like Cavo, which is not close to many other bars, and that other place in Long Island, miles from the nearest other bar, reachable only by train.

It is obvious that many of these businesses need to be given a reason to care about the dram shop law.

Anonymous said...

Cavo is in Astoria. It is not that far from other bars. Dram Shop suits are very difficult to win. I'm not sure what the evidence is here, but blood-alcohol level isn't enough. The person has to be visibly intoxicated. As in very, very drunk, not just a little tipsy. He could have had a high blood alcohol level but looked fine.
This is a tragedy and this guy should never get out of jail, but that doesn't necessarily mean the bar is at fault. It depends on what the evidence shows.

Isn't the immigration agency responsible for deportation a federal agency? You all like to blame Bloomberg for everything. Why don't you blame him for the bad weather this past summer?

Anonymous said...

Is this the guy that got a suspisiously light sentence?

Is it true, as rumor as it, the Vallone Sr. not only has an interest in the new beer garden (pratically right next to a school!), but he has one in this place, too?

Anonymous said...

You all like to blame Bloomberg for everything. Why don't you blame him for the bad weather this past summer?
--
ok you win - since he thinks he is God and more important than American democracy and the will of the people, we will!

Anonymous said...

How is it the bar's fault that the man drank too much? Where's the personal responsibility in that? As much as a feel sorry for the grieving family, they need to accept that no one is here to blame except the drunken man. A bar serves alcohol. I didn't know bartenders had to monitor how much a person drinks. What if they got drunk by drinking other people's drinks? How can you even monitor that?

The family is just pissed off and is looking for money. I feel sorry for the bar owner.