UPDATE: Woods was asked about the lawsuit during his press conference at the PGA Championship Tuesday morning. “We’re all very sad that Nick passed away,” he said. “It was a terrible night, a terrible ending, and just—we feel bad for him and his entire family. It’s very sad.”
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Tiger Woods has been sued for wrongful death by the parents of a former bartender at The Woods Jupiter restaurant who died in a drunk-driving accident last year, according to a complaint filed in Palm Beach County on Monday.
Woods’ girlfriend, Erica Herman, who is the general manager of the restaurant, is also named as a defendant.
According to the lawsuit, the worker, 24-year-old Nicholas Immesberger, crashed his vehicle while driving home from Woods’ restaurant on Dec. 10, 2018. His blood alcohol concentration was found to be more than three times the legal limit at the time of his death, according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges that Immesberger was over-served for hours by employees at Woods’ restaurant before the accident. The complaint also charges that “the employees and management at The Woods continued to serve Immesberger alcohol to the point of intoxication knowing that he had driven to work and had no other way home.”
According to the lawsuit, employees and management “had direct knowledge that Immesberger had a habitual problem with alcohol,” including Woods and Herman who “were drinking with Immesberger at The Woods bar only a few nights before the fatal crash.”
USA Today reported that because Woods is the owner of the restaurant, he “potentially could be held liable as an owner of the establishment even if he wasn’t physically at the venue if a foreseeable risk of injury or death occurs due to over-serving somebody with a known history of alcohol abuse issue.”
The lawsuit, filed by Immesberger’s parents, Katherine Belowsky and Scott Duchene, seeks damages in excess of $15,000.
The entire complaint is available here:
https://m2d2s5w6.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Immesberger-Complaint.pdf
Woods is playing in the PGA Championship this week at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y. It is his first start since his momentous win at the Masters last month.
His representatives did not immediately reply to GOLF.com’s request for comment.
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