Bryan Steinhauer and his parents are suing Binghamton’s Rathskeller Pub and Dillinger’s Celtic Pub and Eatery for damages he suffered as a result of a brutal beating last May.

The family claims the bars served alcohol to Steinhauer’s underage attackers. Though the lawsuit was filed at the end of March in a Brooklyn court, no further action has been taken so far.

Pipe Dream investigates examples of other bars in hot water for underage drinking.

James and Jon Hetherley v. Sawgrass Tavern, 2008

Two underage twins were served alcohol at the Sawgrass tavern in Florida before fighting with a coworker and subsequently burglarizing the coworker’s house.

After pleading guilty to counts of aggravated battery and burglary, the twins sued the tavern for injury damages they received. They claimed their case under the Dram Shop liability, which states “a person who willfully and unlawfully sells or furnishes alcoholic beverages to a person who is not of lawful drinking age … may become liable for injury or damage caused by or resulting from the intoxication of such minor.”

The trial court sided with the Tavern under the forcible felony clause, which states no action for damages can be taken if injury was “sustained by a participant during the commission or attempted commission of a forcible felony.” This decision was upheld in the appellate court as well.

Doyle Tavern, 2006

According to Crain’s Detroit Business newspaper, a Wayne County Circuit Court jury awarded a wrongful death award of more than $4 million to the estate of deceased 26-year-old John Spolsky.

Spolsky had been in a one-car crash driven by his intoxicated friend, Christopher Bohn. Bohn had had at least ten drinks at Doyle’s Tavern in Detroit, although the tavern’s owner claimed that Spolsky had paid the bar tab. The jury made the tavern responsible for 95 percent of the awarded money.

Lancaster, Pa.

According to Lancaster New Era, 19-year-old Keith Pitt, Jr. is suing a bar for serving him alcohol before he got shot three times by 21-year-old Colby Richard Dixon in 2007.

Pitt claims that Rookies Sports Bar “didn’t provide adequate security and was negligent because the bartenders didn’t card him the night he was shot.” Pitt is also suing the convicted Dixon, who allegedly shot him for speaking with his girlfriend. Pitt is seeking in excess of $50,000 and a jury trial.