At the Austin, Texas Clive Bar, a lawsuit has been filed against the bar for serving a woman who was already intoxicated and about to get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Gabrielle Nestande had been drinking at Clive Bar before getting into her car and hitting and killing Courtney Griffin in 2011. A release from Texas litigation this past week stated that a lawsuit had been filed against Clive Bar on behalf of Griffin’s mother, Laurie, seeking damages of over $1 million and claims that the bar served alcohol to an already-intoxicated customer.
The lawsuit also includes four counts against Nestande for “negligence, gross negligence, negligence per se, and negligent affliction of bodily injury.”
A friend of Nestande’s testified during her trial last month that Nestande was indeed “sloppy” after consuming seven beers and two vodka drinks, all of which the bar admits serving.
On February 22, 2013, Nestande was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide for hitting and killing Griffin, then leaving the scene claiming she did not know she hit anyone. Nestande was sentenced to ten years of probation with a fine of $10,000.
Courtney Griffin’s mother is currently supporting a State Senate bill that would require harsher punishment on people who leave the scene of fatal crashes.