Woman Sues Bar After She Crashes While Driving Drunk, Now A Paraplegic

December 30th, 2011 (6) Posted By Angelia Phillips.

DailyMailUK:

A 20-year-old woman paralyzed in a car crash after a night of underage drinking is suing a bar for not checking her ID.

Chelsea Hess, now 22, argues a barman should have asked her to show her ID when she ordered drinks at a South Carolina Bar in 2009.

Despite being a year under the legal age to drink Ms Hess spent several hours at Jock’s Sport Grill in Bluffton, South Carolina where she drank with friends and played billiards.

When she left the premises at 1am and was driving home her car ran off the road.

Officials say Ms Hess, who was not wearing a seat belt, was over the legal drink drive limit.

She was ejected from the vehicle and hurled 20ft suffering catastrophic injuries that left her as a paraplegic.

According to the lawsuit Ms Hess claims the bartender should have asked if she was old enough to buy alcohol or if she was drunk when she was in the bar.

‘The bartender failed to attempt to ascertain whether or not plaintiff was already impaired by alcohol consumption when she purchased the alcoholic beverage and made sale to plaintiff even though she was unable to legally purchase the alcoholic beverage, and notwithstanding the possibility that she was already impaired by alcohol consumption,’ according to the complaint obtained by the Courthouse News Service.

Ms Hess has also sued the Department of Transportation and the town of Bluffton and Beaufort County claiming they had failed to properly maintain the road where she crashed.

The lawsuit says the wheels of her 2000 Mitsubishi car ‘suddenly dropped off into a large unmaintained area on the shoulder of Alljoj Road, which caused plaintiff to lose control of her vehicle and causing her to roll the vehicle off the side of the road.’

In its response to the lawsuit, Schubert Place LLC, operator of Jock’s Sport Grill, denied Ms Hess’s claims.
They said she was responsible for her injuries due to her acts of ‘negligence, recklessness, willfulness and gross negligence’.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation also blamed Ms Hess, saying the accident occurred due to a number of events for which she bore responsibility, including driving while intoxicated and failing to keep her under control.

Ms Hess, now aged 22, is seeking punitive damages that could run into millions and cover the cost of her round-the-clock health care.

You can read more here.

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  • Canned05

    Nah, don’t bother taking any responsibility for your own stupid actions.  It is the bar’s fault, never your own!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VPZXYCU6GM2A2JSG5S66SPYC3U TyS

    I hope the remainder of her pathetic existence is miserable and excruciating

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VPZXYCU6GM2A2JSG5S66SPYC3U TyS

    I hope the remainder of her pathetic existence is miserable and excruciating

  • Anonymous

    She’s a good example of a genuine bitch. I have no sorrow for her.

  • Billy

    This is the kind of stuff that really gets people fed up with some in this country who simply refuse to take responsibility for their own actions, and instead want to blame someone else and collect millions in the process. It’s one big reason our health care is so expensive.

  • Billy

    This is the kind of stuff that really gets people fed up with some in this country who simply refuse to take responsibility for their own actions, and instead want to blame someone else and collect millions in the process. It’s one big reason our health care is so expensive.