Coors Drunk-Driving Lawsuit Dropped
A Reno, Nev., lawyer has dropped a lawsuit against Coors Brewing
Co. that sought to hold the brewer responsible for the death of
a young man who was driving drunk, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported
June 2.
Ken McKenna decided to drop the lawsuit filed on behalf of Jodie
Pisco after a lawyer for Coors threatened to seek sanctions for
filing frivolous litigation.
Pisco's son, Ryan, 19, drove his girlfriend's car into stop-light
pole at 90 mph after leaving a party. A Coors beer carton was found
in the car.
The lawsuit claimed that Coors was liable for the teenager's death
because it promotes underage drinking and illegal alcohol consumption
at sporting events. The suit challenged Nevada law, which protects
alcohol providers from being sued. McKenna was hoping the state
law would be addressed at the Supreme Court level.
"After doing some research, we decided that the Supreme Court
is unlikely to be inclined politically to overturn the protection
for alcohol distributors," McKenna said.
He added that Pisco also took legal action to bring awareness to
the problem of underage drinking. "Her motivation all along
was to shed some light on the fact that alcohol companies do, in
fact, advertise their products to minors," McKenna said.
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