'Habitual drunkard' sues Boynton bar for serving him before DUI crash

 

By Missy Stoddard

Staff Writer

Posted April 14 2005

A man who drove drunk and injured himself and his passengers is suing the Boynton Beach bar where he consumed the alcohol.

 

Brian Licitra, 27, filed a negligence lawsuit Wednesday against the Banana Boat Restaurant & Lounge, alleging the establishment knew he was a "habitual drunkard" but served him alcohol anyway.

 

Licitra alleges he was visibly intoxicated on June 26, but that the bar's employees continued to let him drink.

 

Licitra's attorney, Matthew P. Slingbaum, said his client was driving other Banana Boat employees on the night of the crash. Licitra once worked at Banana Boat, but was fired as a result of his drinking problem, his lawyer said.

 

In December, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office charged Licitra with DUI

causing serious bodily injury, DUI causing injury to person or property and driving while his license was suspended or revoked. The disposition of those charges was not known on Wednesday. A bar manager said she could not comment on the lawsuit.

 

State law permits a bar to be held responsible for serving known habitual drunks, according to Slingbaum.

 

"When you have a patron like Mr. Licitra ... and if someone can't stop himself, [the bar] needs to take matters into their own hands and not continue serving that person," he said.

 

Missy Stoddard can be reached at mstoddard@sun-sentinel.com or 561-832-2895.

 

 

 

 

 

I have no problem with the police charging the bar owner for serving someone when they are already intoxicated, but there is no way that the actual drunk should benefit economically for being irresponsible. Aren't people accountable for their irresponsible behavior anymore? :mad

I guess there would be two questions here:

 

1) Was he truly visibly intoxicated as he claims? (How would he know, anyway?)

 

2) And more importantly, did they know he was going to drive back home drunk and still do nothing about it?

 

I'm guessing the answer to #2 is no, since it wasn't mentioned in the article.

 

Anyways, the only person who deserves money in this case is the innocent person who was injured as a result of his DUI crash.

 

About the case, I don't blame the lawyer at all for doing his job, I blame this skunk (who clearly has an ax to grind with his former employer) and all the other immoral American slobs out there who see their own misfortune as a means by which to make a quick buck off of someone else. They deserve to curl up and die.