Victim’s Family Files Premises Liability Lawsuit After Fatal Golf Cart Crash

South Carolina law gives people injured in preventable accidents the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against the party or parties that caused the accident and to seek damages for accident-related financial losses.  This principle applies regardless of the cause of the accident, whether it was a motor vehicle accident, a slip and fall injury at a supermarket, or a dog bite, to name just a few common causes of accidental injury.  Drunk driving causes a disproportionate number of collisions; approximately a third of fatal car accidents involve alcohol or drugs.  When an accident occurs at a place of business and a customer gets injured, the business owner is responsible; this is called premises liability.  South Carolina and other states have enacted dram shop liability laws, which state that a dram shop, meaning a bar or restaurant that serves alcohol, can be liable for premises liability when a customer who got drunk at the establishment causes an accident resulting in injuries or fatalities.  Dram shop liability laws even apply in the case of single vehicle accidents where the only person injured was the drunk driver.  A Columbia car accident lawyer can help you if a drunk driver collided with your vehicle after an evening of bar hopping.

Do Dram Shop Laws Apply in the Folly Beach Wedding Reception Case?

Everyone in South Carolina has heard the tragic story of Samantha Miller, the bride who died when a drunk driver struck the golf cart on which Miller was riding immediately after her wedding reception.  Miller and her husband Aric Hutchinson were leaving their wedding reception on Folly Beach in a festively decorated golf cart; riding on the golf cart with them were Hutchinson’s brother-in-law Benjamin Garrett, and Garrett’s son, a minor identified in the lawsuit only by his initials.  Jamie Komoroski, who had consumed alcohol at no fewer than four bars that day, was driving at 65 miles per hour on a road where the speed limit was 25 and collided with the bridal couple’s golf cart.  Miller was killed, and the other three occupants of the golf cart suffered injuries severe enough to require hospitalization.

At the time of the collision, Komoroski’s blood alcohol content was 0.26, which is more than three times the legal limit.  The injured survivors filed a dram shop liability lawsuit against the bars where Komoroski is believed to have consumed alcohol on the day of the collision, namely El Gallo Bar and Grill, the Drop In, the Crab Shack, and Snapper Jacks.  Also named as a defendant is Taco Boy, the restaurant where Komoroski had recently been hired; the managers of Taco Boy deny that Komoroski was present at the restaurant on the day of the accident.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury and wrongful death lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you if you were involved in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Sources:

htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/estate-of-samantha-miller-et-al-complaint-final-6465170804494.pdf

wyff4.com/article/south-carolina-restaurant-responds-lawsuit-bride-death/43941159