Tiger Woods has been dismissed from a wrongful-death lawsuit involving an employee of Woods’ Jupiter, Florida restaurant.
On Friday June 21, attorneys for the parents of Nicholas Immesberger voluntarily dropped Woods as the defendant from their pending case.
“The decision was clearly appropriate and reflected the fact that Mr Woods should not have been included in the lawsuit in the first place because he had nothing to do with Mr Immesberger’s death,” Barry Postman, managing partner of the legal firm Cole, Scott & Kissane, told Golf Digest in a statement.
“While the situation was tragic, the facts will ultimately show that the cause of Mr Immesberger’s car accident were the many decisions made by Mr Immesberger on the night of his passing.”
Immesberger, who worked at The Woods as a bartender, died on December 10 when he crashed his Corvette near the community of Port Salerno, 20 miles (30km) from the restaurant. A police report says he was driving an estimated 70 miles (110km) per hour in a 55-mph (90km) zone, and that his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.
A month before his death, Immesberger had another alcohol-related crash. The suit states Immesberger was a recovering addict who was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Woods is the owner of the restaurant, while his girlfriend Erica Herman is the general manager. Under state alcohol laws, Woods could have been liable as the proprietor of the establishment even if he wasn’t at the venue the day of the crash.
Woods spoke on the matter at last month’s PGA Championship.
“We’re all very sad that Nick passed away,” Woods said at Bethpage. “It was a terrible night, a terrible ending, and just – we feel bad for him and his entire family. It’s very sad.”