Law.com reports that the N.J. Supreme Court has declined to reinstate a $105 million dram shop verdict against a Giants Stadium beer vendor. Mothers Against Drunk Driving filed an amicus brief in the action.
In a Jan. 31 order with no commentary, the court denied a petition for certification by lawyers for Antonia Verni, now 9, who was paralyzed in a crash with a drunken fan after a Giants-Saints game in 1999.
Two years ago, a Bergen County Superior Court jury found the stadium vending company, Harry M. Stevens Inc., and its parent Aramark Corp., liable for $30 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages.
The verdict was cited around the country as a warning to the sports industry, its vendors and its insurers of the potential cost of letting fans drink too much at games and tailgate parties.
But an appeals court vacated the award and ordered a retrial in August on grounds that dramatic testimony about the culture of drunkenness at the stadium was impermissible in a dram shop case and had the capacity to enflame the jury.
The Supreme Court's cert denial in Verni v. Harry M. Stevens of New Jersey, C-543, sets the stage for a trial along the lines mandated by the Appellate Division: concentration on whether the fan was served when he was visibly intoxicated, not whether a culture of drunkenness existed
