Chevys settles wrongful-death drunk-driving suit: chain pays $1.5m to family, gives $50K to alcohol-awareness program of victim's university

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 10, 2003 by Alan J. Liddle

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. -- As part of a pretrial settlement of a $25 million wrongful-death lawsuit, chain operator Chevys Inc. paid $1.5 million to the family of a college student who was killed in a car accident after he and the underage driver allegedly were served alcoholic beverages by a Chevys here.

In addition to the settlement, the 164-unit operator of the Chevys Fresh Mex and Rio Bravo Fresh Mex casual-dining chains agreed to contribute $50,000 to an alcohol-awareness program at California State University, Sacramento, where the 20-year-old victim was a student when he died Oct. 25,2001.

Steven Snow and Patricia Metzger-Snow, parents of the late Jesse Patrick Snow, sued Emeryville, Calif.-based Chevys in Sacramento County Superior Court in 2001.

"The Snows' commitment to assuring that their son did not die in vain convinced us that justice would best be served by a settlement rather than a prolonged litigation," Claude Perasso, Chevys' senior vice president and general counsel, said in a written statement.

Chevys' settlement and contribution to the university program were hailed by the Snows' lawyer.

"It is rare for a business to respond to a situation like this in such a positive way," attorney John Poswall of Sacramento said in a written statement released by Chevys. "Chevys' actions bring closure to this tragedy and in contributing to the CSUS fund should set a standard for the industry."

Poswall could not be reached for additional comment.

The Snows' lawsuit alleged that bartenders at Chevys' Howe Avenue restaurant in Sacramento contributed to the death of their son and regularly served alcohol to minors.

California's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, or ABC, last fall suspended for 30 days the liquor license of the restaurant after it was implicated in Snow's death.

ABC officials said an additional 30 days of license suspension was stayed for a year and would be added to any new penalties should the restaurant be found in violation of beverage-control laws during that period. They said Chevys did not challenge the penalty by stipulating to the suspension, thereby avoiding a lengthy appeals process.

"Chevys is glad to be able to resolve the litigation with the Snows," Perasso said. "We are equally pleased with the opportunity to affirm our commitment to our alcohol-awareness policies with respect to our customers, particularly minors, and to be afforded the opportunity to support programs that will help avoid these tragedies in the future."

At the time of the Sacramento restaurant's 30-day license suspension, Perasso said, "Since its inception in 1986, Chevys Inc. has had a very strict policy on serving alcoholic beverages in all our locations, and we take the service of alcoholic beverages very seriously. Chevys is a family restaurant."

Snow died shortly after leaving the Howe Avenue Chevys when the car in which he was riding slammed into a pole. The driver of the vehicle, Stephen Shane Head, 20, whom ABC investigators said had been drinking at the restaurant with Snow and three other minors, was charged with vehicular manslaughter, gross negligence and driving under the influence, beverage-control officials said.

The ABC officials also said that, shortly after the accident, Head's blood-alcohol content measured 0.20 percent. The legal threshold for intoxication in California is 0.08 percent.

ABC investigators reported that several witnesses in the restaurant, including some of the minors, involved, said restaurant employees did not ask to see identification before or during alcohol service. Some of the witnesses signed statements saying that both Snow and Head appeared to be intoxicated before they left the restaurant, the investigators said.

The Sacramento Bee newspaper reported that Snow's family also filed a lawsuit against Head that seeks $5 million in damages. The Bee said the Sacramento County District Attorney's office had decided not to seek criminal charges against the Chevys bartender who served the minors.

"It's important for liquor licensees to understand the potential consequences when minors are served alcoholic beverages," Tim Gorusch, the ABC's Sacramento district office administrator, said in a written statement about the Chevys license suspension. "This was a classic case of employees not selling and serving alcoholic beverages responsibly."

In preparing for trial, Snow-family attorney Poswall placed an advertisement in the school newspaper of the university that Snow attended, requesting any students who had observed Chevys' employees serving alcohol to minors to come forward as possible witnesses. The judge in the case late last year denied a motion by Chevys' legal team to bar such testimony from the proceedings.