Plymouth Tavern Pays $4.5 Million

Doyle's Tavern is the former Side Street Pub, on Fralick, across the street from the post office loading dock.

By TONY BRUSCATO
STAFF WRITER
A Wayne County jury ordered Doyle's Tavern in Plymouth to pay $4.5 million to the estate of a Novi man who was killed when a drunken driver crashed his car at Plymouth and Joy roads Sept. 5, 2004.

The decision stems from a suit filed by the estate of John Spolsky of Novi. According to police reports, Chris Bohm of South Lyon lost control of his car and rolled 800 feet, ejecting and killing both Spolsky - his best friend - and Bohm's sister, Patricia, also of South Lyon. Police estimate Chris Bohm was traveling 72 mph in a 55 mph zone. Chris Bohm survived the crash.

The jury determined Doyle's Tavern was 95 percent responsible for the death of Spolsky, Chris Bohm was 5 percent responsible and no responsibility was assessed to Spolsky.

Messages to Doyle's Tavern owner John Doyle were not immediately returned.

"The most unusual part of the verdict isn't the amount, it's the division of fault with the bar 95 percent at fault and the driver only 5 percent," said Dan Kelly, of the law firm Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton in Troy, the attorney for the Spolsky family. "Typically you would have the bar less responsible than the at-fault driver, but in this case the law was important enough in finding the bar more at fault than the driver of the vehicle who caused the accident.

"The law says you never serve anyone who is visibly intoxicated, not legally intoxicated," said Kelly. "In this case the driver was loud, boisterous, overly friendly and singing loudly in the bar."

According to Kelly, Doyle's defense claimed Chris Bohm did not have signs of visible intoxication and that Spolsky paid the bar tab.

"If the injured party contributes to the intoxicated party's level of intoxication he cannot file a lawsuit," said Kelly, who said there were defense witnesses who claimed Spolsky gave Chris Bohm money while leaving the bar. "The jury didn't believe that. This award should send a message to every bar, restaurant or any other server of alcohol that the laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol to visibly intoxicated customers will be enforced by jurors."

Spolsky, a 1996 graduate of Catholic Central High School, recently graduated from Army Ranger School. He was on leave prior to being reassigned by the Air Force to serve in Iraq.