Bars to pay $7m settlement for fatal attack
Two US bars have agreed to pay a US$7 million settlement to the family of a man beaten to death by three drunk men who had been served “beyond the point of visible intoxication”.
Two bars will pay a US$7m settlement for over-serving three patrons who went on to beat a man to death
alcoholThe lawsuit alleged that Lucy’s Hat Shop and G Lounge in Philadelphia served three men – two of whom were underage – who then went on to beat 23-year-old Kevin Kless to death on 14 January 2012.
It is thought the settlement is the largest payout for an individual bar liability case in the state’s history.
Kless was attempting to hail a taxi but when he cursed at a cab that failed to stop, three men pulled up in a car beside him believing the insults had been directed at them.
Kenneth Enriquiz-Santiago and Felix Carrillo got out of the vehicle and beat Kless, before the driver Steven Ferguson also got out of the car and punched Kless in the head, tearing an artery in his neck from which he died moments later.
The men are all currently serving prison sentences for their roles in killing Kless.
Robert Mongeluzzi, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, said while no amount of money could reimburse the family of Kless’ loss: “In Kevin’s name, they have successfully and resoundingly delivered a message to the two bar-defendants, Lucy’s Hat Shop and G Lounge, that if you serve underage, drunken patrons, and they leave your bar and commit a heinous crime, you will be held accountable for your actions.”
Several witnesses said bothy venues had continued to serve alcohol to the three attackers past the point of “visible intoxication”, which is against the state’s liquor code.
“Our son would be alive today if those bars – their managers and their employees – has just followed the law, starting with denying entry to minors,” commented the victim’s parents John and Kendall Kless.
“We hope that this lawsuit will spur the industry to follow the laws, which are in place for a reason, and spare any other family from suffering the devastating, preventable loss we have endured.”
Earlier this month, an American tiki bar was fined US$500,000 for serving alcohol to a woman who died in a head-on car crash and left another severely injured.
Meanwhile, last year two Australian bartenders were fined for serving alcohol to an “essentially comatose” footballer who was later found dead in a hotel room.
