Dram shop lawsuit settled for $975K

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A woman who was thrown from a vehicle being driven by her drunk friend while they were celebrating her birthday has settled a lawsuit against the restaurant that served them for $975,000, her attorney reports.

In January 2016, the women, Gretchen Smith and Ashley Byron, went to Pomegranate on Main in Greenville, where they drank several martinis, said Matthew Yelverton of Yelverton Litigators in Charleston, who represented Byron.

Soon after the pair left the bar, they were traveling in a Jeep Wrangler that Smith was driving when it drifted off the road inside a curve, Yelverton said. Smith overcorrected and crashed into a tree. Bryon wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the Jeep. She suffered a closed amputation on her foot and elbow—the bones broke and detached from the tissue, but the skin remained intact.

“The doctor said this was the first [instance of that] he had ever seen,” Yelverton said.

Neighbors called emergency services, and Byron was taken to the hospital. Smith blew a .23, almost three times the legal driving limit, Yelverton said. She was charged with DUI.  

Byron sued Pomegranate on Main for overserving Smith. The restaurant argued that Byron was contributorily negligent because she rode with a drunk driver. Yelverton said that Byron didn’t notice how much her friend had drank because she herself was intoxicated and Smith had promised to be the designated driver.

“She was doing her own thing, talking to other people and not paying much attention,” Yelverton said. “We argued that the bar could not blame the client for getting into a car with a drunk driver when the bar had gotten our client so intoxicated that she was incapable of making sound decisions.”

Yelverton said that receipts showed that Smith had bought 10 martinis in just over an hour.

The case settled after the Byron’s deposition. Yelverton said that Byron, 31, has recovered from her injuries.

David Moore of Turner Padget Law in Greenville represented Pomegranate on Main. He could not be reached for comment.

Follow Bill Cresenzo on Twitter @bcresenzosclw

SETTLEMENT REPORT — DRAM SHOP

Amount: $975,000

Injuries alleged: Broken arm and leg, dislocated elbow

Case name: Byron v. Pomegranate on Main

Court: Greenville County Circuit Court

Case number: 2018-CP-23-00736

Date of settlement: Jan. 23

Insurer: Ohio Insurance Security Co.

Attorneys for plaintiff: Matthew Yelverton of Yelverton Litigators in Charleston

Attorneys for defendant: David Moore of Turner Padget Law in Greenville