Self-Described Drunkard Sues Strip Club That Sold Him Drinks

[matcom]

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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- A lawsuit accuses of a Gulf Coast strip club of serving drinks to a 50-year-old man they should have known was a "habitual drunkard."

"They knew that he was a drunkard," said attorney Sabato DeVito, a lawyer representing Spring Hill resident Johnny Eugene Smith. "And they continued to serve him alcohol even after they got him intoxicated and then helped him into his car."

The lawsuit said Smith wrecked his Corvette after leaving Calendar Girls in Hudson in 2002. The suit said club's staff was "negligent and careless ... engaging in the sale of alcohol to a habitual drunkard."

Club management declined to comment on the suit.

University of Florida law professor Lars Noah told the Times the suit isn't frivolous, but it's unlikely to go far in the legal system.

"It's kind of surprising that any lawyer worth his salt would take a case like that," Noah said. "I'm partly to blame for that, I guess. We're churning them out."

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/9530705/detail.html