Tiger Woods Hit with Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Golfer Tiger Woods and his girlfriend, Erica Herman, are facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man who worked at Woods’ restaurant in Jupiter, Florida.
Nicholas Immesberger was a bartender at The Woods, which Woods owns and Herman manages.
On De. 10, 2018, Immesberger was drinking at The Woods and became “severely intoxicated,” according to a news release by attorneys Craig Goldenfarb and Spencer Kuvin, who are representing the Immesberger family.
We filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tiger Woods, Erica Herman, and The Woods Restaurant for dram shop negligence in the death of our client’s family, Nicholas Immesberger. Press conference tomorrow at 10a. Read about it -> https://t.co/8cRBU9CrNw
— Craig Goldenfarb (@CraigGoldenfarb) May 13, 2019
After leaving The Woods, according to the complaint, Immesberger got into a car accident and was pronounced dead at the scene.
His blood alcohol level was 0.256 at the time of the crash, which is more than three times the legal limit in Florida.
The news release said the “litigation will prove that the Defendants not only were aware of his alcoholism, but that the employees, staff, and owners of the restaurant knowingly fueled his addition by regularly over-serving him during and after his work shifts.”
During a news conference Tuesday in advance of the PGA Championship in New York, Woods was asked about the lawsuit.
“It was a terrible night, terrible ending,” he said. “We feel bad to him and his entire family.”
According to the lawsuit, Immesberger had worked until 3 p.m. Dec. 10 and stayed at the bar drinking afterward.
It says the employees and management knew he had a drinking problem and attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting the night before.
It’s not clear from the suit whether Woods or Herman was there the day of the crash, but it alleges they were “drinking with Immesberger at The Woods bar only a few nights before the fatal crash of December 10, 2018.”
“Tiger knew, or reasonably should have known, that Immesberger was habitually addicted to the use of any or all alcoholic beverages, and/or was a habitual drunkard,” the lawsuit says.
The suit claims Woods is individually liable in this action because he “individually participated in the serving of alcohol to Immesberger with the personal knowledge that Immesberger had a habitual problem with alcohol.”
The attorneys held a news conference with the family Tuesday morning in their West Palm Beach office.
“It’s a tragedy,” Mary Belowsky, Immesberger’s mother, said as she fought back tears, WPTV-TV reported.
“Nick was a good kid, a funny kid. He had a lot of drive, and he was taken away from us,” Immesberger’s father, Scott Duchene, told reporters. “I feel that he should still be here with us, and I’m very disappointed with this whole situation.”
The attorneys told reporters the restaurant destroyed video footage that showed Immesberger drinking at the bar for hours, The Palm Beach Post reported.
Woods, meanwhile, is getting ready to play in the PGA Championship this weekend at the Bethpage Black Course on Long Island, New York. He tees off Thursday.
Last week, Woods, who won the 2019 Masters, was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump for his comeback in golf and in life.
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