$3 Million Settlement for Driver Hit Head-On by Drunk Motorist Served at Columbia Tavern
After trial: The settlement terms beyond the total were not made public, and we could not confirm how the amount was divided between the tavern and the driver or whether it has been paid.
Won by Kenneth Berger.
Travis Butler, 19, was driving to work in January 2016 when a drunk driver crossed the center line and hit him head-on, leaving him with seven broken bones, a liver laceration and seven surgeries. His dram shop suit against the driver and Hickory Tavern in Columbia settled for $3 million in January 2019. The driver had pleaded guilty to DUI resulting in great bodily injury.
What happened
On Jan. 10, 2016, Travis Butler, then 19, was driving to his job at the Amazon fulfillment center in West Columbia, South Carolina. Logan Frazier's vehicle crossed the center line and struck Butler's car head-on.
Butler suffered seven broken bones, a liver laceration, a dislocated toe and torn ligaments in his left knee. He spent more than two weeks in the hospital and underwent seven surgeries. Surgeons placed two rods in his right leg, one rod in his left leg and a plate in his right arm. By the time the case resolved, at age 22, his lawyer said he was already developing arthritis.
Frazier's blood alcohol content was .20, about two and a half times the legal limit. He had been drinking that afternoon at the Hickory Tavern in Columbia, operated by T&B Management, LLC. According to Butler's counsel, debit card receipts, Frazier's deposition and witness testimony showed that tavern staff served him a total of 82 ounces of Red Bull, beer and liquor, and that he closed out a tab at the downstairs bar and opened a new one upstairs. Frazier later pleaded guilty to DUI resulting in great bodily injury and received probation.
Butler sued both the tavern and Frazier in Richland County Circuit Court (case no. 2017-CP-40-3240), alleging that the tavern violated South Carolina's prohibition on serving an intoxicated customer. Kenneth Berger of Columbia represented Butler. Becky Laffitte of Robinson, Gray, Stepp & Laffitte defended the tavern, and Austin Hood of Clawson and Staubes defended Frazier. Berger described Frazier as 'hammered' and said the case was never about medical bills or lost earnings: it was about what over-serving and drunk driving did to a teenager.
According to Berger, the tavern contended that Butler had made a strong recovery, that his future medical needs were limited and that he could move on with his life.
The case settled on Jan. 24, 2019, for $3 million. Berger said his side spent heavily on medical animations, demonstrative evidence and experts to prepare it. Laffitte told South Carolina Lawyers Weekly that the tavern's decision to resolve the case quickly 'benefits everyone involved.'
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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Douglas Mincey, a retired engineer and author, was rear-ended on I-95 in Jasper County in March 2016 by a driver who had been drinking. He had a lower back injury that required several surgeries and concussive symptoms. His underinsured motorist carrier, USAA, agreed to pay $2 million on April 6, 2018, before the case reached the jury roster.
A Navy veteran who was sent home from the Charleston VA with back pain developed a spinal epidural abscess that went untreated for days, leaving him permanently paralyzed in both legs; the Law Office of Kenneth E. Berger recovered a $1 million federal settlement.
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