Tiger Woods no longer a defendant in wrongful death lawsuit involving drunk driver
Tiger Woods is no longer a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a drunk driver who died last year. According to the Associated Press, attorneys for the parents of Nicholas Immesberger, who worked at the golfer's flagship restaurant in Florida, filed an amended complaint Friday in Palm Beach County court dropping Woods from the suit.
Woods and his girlfriend, Erica Herman, were sued in May after the 24-year-old Immesberger crashed his car after being served alcohol one night in December while working as a bartender at The Woods restaurant in Jupiter, Florida. The amended complaint still names the restaurant, in which the golfer is an investor, and Herman, the restaurant's general manager, as defendants.
The original lawsuit said "the employees, management and owners of The Woods over-served a young man they knew was suffering with the disease of alcoholism." The suit also claims they "ignored Immesberger's disease, they fueled it by over-serving him alcohol to the point of severe intoxication and then sending him out to his car to drive home. As a result of this negligence Immesberger crashed his vehicle and died on December 10, 2018, after leaving The Woods."
The lawsuit contended that Herman "personally knew Immesberger, specifically recruited him to work at The Woods and was well aware of Immesberger's habitual abuse of alcohol." The lawsuit also claimed the restaurant allegedly deleted video showing Immesberger drinking at the bar before the crash.
"They knew about the crash that night, and shortly thereafter that video evidence was then destroyed," the parents' attorney, Spencer Kuvin, said.
According to the original complaint, Immesberger finished his shift at the restaurant at 3 p.m. and stayed around to drink for another three hours before he got in his car and crashed it while driving home. The lawsuit alleged that employees at The Woods were aware that one month prior to Immesberger's fatal crash he had crashed another vehicle while driving home and that one of Immesberger's friends had told employees at The Woods to stop serving him alcohol.
At the time of his death, Immesberger's blood-alcohol level was .256, over three times the legal limit of .08. After the lawsuit was filed, Woods addressed it at a PGA press conference in Bethpage, New York.
"We're all very sad that Nick passed away," Woods said when asked about the case. "It was a terrible night, a terrible ending. And we feel bad for him and his entire family. It's very sad."