Bar fined $500k for serving woman who later died

A bar has been fined US$500,000 and will have its licence revoked for a month for allegedly over-serving alcohol to a woman who died in head-on car crash and left another severely injured.

Martell’s Tiki Bar will have its liquor licence revoked for a month in September

As reported by CBS Local, Martell’s Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant Beach, Jersey Shore, US, Martell’s will not be permitted to serve alcohol from 28 September to 28 October as part of a settlement with the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control.

In addition, all staff will be obliged to complete training in the safe service of alcohol for as long as the current owners hold an interest in the liquor licence.

In 2013, Ashley Cheico, 26, left Martell’s where she had been drinking and got in someone else’s car left in the car park with the keys still inside.

Cheico was driving the wrong way down Route 18 when she smashed head-on into another vehicle driven by Dana Corrar who suffered two broken legs, broken ribs and must walk with a cane two years after the accident.

Corrar filed a lawsuit in November 2013 for compensatory and punitive damages arguing the bar failed to supervise the situation, endangering the public.

Martell’s pleaded “no contest” to the charge of serving alcohol to an intoxicated person.

The lawsuit has not yet been resolved.

“There can be deadly consequences when alcohol and driving are mixed, so it is vitally important that establishments that serve alcohol, do so responsibly,” commented John J Hoffman, acting attorney general. “It is unlawful in this state to serve alcohol to a person who is actually or apparently intoxicated and the repercussions of not abiding by the law have been brought to bear in this tragic case.”

In October last year, two Australian bartenders were fined for serving alcohol to an “essentially comatose” footballer who was later found dead in a hotel room.