Lexington County restaurants, bars sued in alleged DUI death

Four Midlands restaurants and bars are being sued for allegedly serving alcohol to a woman who then drove her car “in an intoxicated state” and killed a 21-year-old woman riding in another car.

The lawsuit was filed in state court in Lexington County by Bruce Johnson, the father of Olivia Johnson, 21, who was killed in an early morning crash Sept. 1 on I-26. The suit asks for unspecified actual and punitive damages.

The driver of that car, Destiny Mills, 24, was charged with felony DUI resulting in death and was indicted on that charge in December by the Lexington County grand jury. She is now free on $100,000 bond. Under a judge’s order, she must wear an alcohol monitor that will track any alcohol consumption.

Mills’ lawyer, Lexington County assistant public defender David Mauldin, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

According to Johnson’s lawsuit, Mills and three friends went “bar hopping” at restaurants and bars in the Harbison area Aug. 31 and early Sept. 1. Each bar served Mills alcohol, according to the lawsuit. Mills had already been drinking before she went to any of the bars, Johnson’s lawsuit asserted.

The combined acts of all four businesses caused Mills “to become intoxicated from the service by the defendants of too much alcohol, rendering Mills incapable of safely operating a motor vehicle,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says Mills first went to Applebee’s at 5185 Fernandina Road, then to the Carolina Ale House at 227 Columbiana Drive, then to Wild Wing Cafe at 1150 Bower Parkway and finally to the Bulldog Pub at 1220 Bower Parkway.

Each restaurant or bar “negligently” served alcohol to Mills,who was “grossly intoxicated” when she drove her 2011 Kia down I-26 until she crashed into the rear of a car in which Johnson was a passenger. Johnson died a few hours later.

“The defendants ... could have likely prevented the decedent’s death by calling a (cab) for Mills or otherwise ensuring that she did not drive an automobile from their premises,” the lawsuit said.

In answers to Johnson’s lawsuit, each of the four bars denied fault. Lawyers for all four bars could not be reached for comment.

Legal cases against bars alleging that they keep serving to intoxicated patrons who then go on to kill or injure innocent people on the roads are increasingly in the spotlight.

In October, a Richland County jury socked a local bar with a $3.85 million negligence verdict in connection with the bar’s role in serving alcohol to a drunk man who several hours later rammed his Jeep into a car, killing 6-year-old Emma Longstreet.

“Justice was served,” said Emma’s father, David Longstreet, who with his wife, Karen, their three children, and Kenny Sinchak, a motorist in another car, brought the lawsuit against the Loose Cockaboose Sports Bar in Columbia.

Specifically, the jury found that the Loose Cockaboose was serving alcohol after a state-mandated closing time, and that it had served an obviously intoxicated Billy Patrick Hutto.

Several hours later, Hutto, a repeat DUI offender, ran a red light going 60 mph and slammed into the Longstreets’ car in Lexington County while they were on their way to church. Emma died later in a local hospital. A law, called Emma’s Law, later was passed. It toughened some penalties against DUI offenders.

In November, William Holt Carlen, the son of the late University of South Carolina football coach Jim Carlen, was found guilty a 2012 felony DUI that resulted in death and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The family of Justin Timmerman, 24, sued a Five Points bar, Jake’s Bar & Grill, for allegedly serving Carlen multiple alcoholic drinks while he was “obviously intoxicated,” according to a civil lawsuit. Jake’s paid the Timmermans $975,000 but admitted no fault.

The Timmermans also sued the Carlen family. At the time, Coach Carlen was still alive and was the owner and insurer of the SUV that his son was driving. The Carlen family settled that lawsuit for $1.3 million but admitted no fault.

Lexington lawyer Rick Hall represents the Johnson estate in this latest case.

Representing the four bars named in the lawsuit are Mark Barrow for Wild Wing Cafe; Walter Powell for Bulldog Pub; Phil Reeves for Appleby’s; and Duke Highfield for Carolina Ale House. None could be reached Thursday.

Serving too much alcohol to “bar customers presents a very serious public safety issue,” Hall said.

The state bans bars from selling alcohol to intoxicated persons.

But Laura Hudson, executive director of the S.C. Crime Victims’ Council, said that while she could not speak to the specifics of the Johnson case, most states mandate training for bar employees to recognize signs of drunkenness, and most states require bars to carry liability insurance for deaths their inebriated customers might cause. South Carolina requires neither training nor liability insurance, Hudson said.

“They aren’t serving ice cream,” Hudson said. “They are serving a controlled substance.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2016 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Lexington County restaurants, bars sued in alleged DUI death."