A Texas man has been awarded?$5.5 million after he filed a civil suit claiming?a?restaurant?was negligent by serving him too much alcohol.
Daniel Rawls?left the restaurant in a drunken state and ended up fighting with another man in the car park resulting in an injury. The altercation took place in May 2019 with another customer, Robert Henrickson, where Rawls alleges he sustained a "serious and debilitating" head injury,?Houston Chronicle reported.?
The two men had both been drinking at La Fogata Mexican Grill in Andrews, Texas, when the incident occurred.?
The court's ruling in Rawls's favor was a default judgment, meaning that the owner of the restaurant did not respond to the suit or show up in court.?The restaurant itself, owner Lourdes Galindo, and an unnamed bartender were named in the suit.?
Rawls was awarded a total of $5.5 million for five claims, including premises liability, negligence and damages arising from foreseeable criminal conduct.?
The lawsuit claimed that the bartender had not been adequately trained by Galindo to notice when customers had been served too much alcohol.??
It also accused the restaurant of negligence for not calling an ambulance for Rawls following the parking lot altercation with Henrickson, and for not keeping the lot clear of things "that would pose a tripping or falling hazard to intoxicated patrons."??
Rawls is alleged to have a history of excessive drinking, with Andrews' jail records showing that he has been arrested twice, in February 2019 and May of this year, on charges of public intoxication.??
However, that past doesn't seem to have affected the ruling here and Rawls has walked out with a figure in excess of $5 million after the Judge sided with the prosecution.??