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Saturday, June 1, 2002

Judge enters nearly $1 million judgment against bar owners after wreck

By ANGELA K. BROWN
Associated Press Writer

DENTON, Texas (AP) - Five years after a drunken driver crashed into a carload of teens leaving an alcohol-free school dance, a bar and its owners were ordered Friday to pay the victims nearly $1 million.

State District Judge Bruce McFarling entered the $964,000 judgment, handed down last month by a Denton County jury against Broken Spoke Saloon and owners James M. Butler and Ann Lee Butler.

Four students were injured in the 1997 crash on their way home from a Valentine's Day dance sponsored by Students Against Drunk Driving. Three of the students' families filed the civil lawsuit.

"I'm very happy ... but we probably won't receive the money," said Amanda Lacey, 21, who has had 27 surgeries since the crash and fears her right leg may have to be amputated. "I was most happy when jurors did the right thing and held the bar responsible."

Martin Van Dyke is serving a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to intoxicated assault with a motor vehicle in 1997.

During the civil trial, Van Dyke testified that he drank 21 beers and two liquor shots Feb. 14, 1997, at the Broken Spoke Saloon in Little Elm, a community of about 6,500 people near Denton.

Van Dyke's blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit when tested several hours after the crash, which happened less than 1,000 feet from the bar's parking lot.

But Charles Beachley, James Butler's attorney, said Van Dyke didn't drink at the Broken Spoke Saloon that night. The bar has since closed.

"This was focused from the start on Martin Van Dyke's lie," Beachley said Friday.

When the civil trial first went to court last year, McFarling granted a directed verdict that the Butlers and their bar were liable. But confused jurors did not award any money because they used a criminal rather than civil standard when deciding the malice issue.

Because the jury's action was contrary to the evidence and judge's ruling, McFarling ordered a new trial, which was held last month.

Jurors believed Van Dyke got drunk at the Broken Spoke. The Butlers again were found to be liable because the mother and son had been running the Broken Spoke as a for-profit business, which is prohibited in their Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission permit to operate as a private club in the dry town.

"This judgment is very significant and shows that the Denton County populous won't put up with bars overserving people," said William Camp, the Dallas attorney representing the plaintiffs.

Lacey can walk without crutches but has pain with every step. She also suffered a broken collarbone, ribs, ankle and nose, a dislocated jaw and a head injury. The injuries Tina Belt-Jones and Shawn Call suffered to their necks, backs and hips still bother them.

Lacey, who attends college and speaks to schools about the dangers of drunken driving, said the case sends a message to bars and their patrons. Others agree.

"When you open a bar, you are obligated to follow the law and take the precautions to make sure things like this never happen," said Linda Jeffries, victim assistance coordinator for the North Texas chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

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On the Net:

Mothers Against Drunk Driving: www.madd.org

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission: http://www.tabc.state.tx.us

from the Reporter-News