West Virginia Jury Finds Bar, Landowner Responsible in Drunken Driving Death

A jury says a now defunct West Virginia bar and the company that owned the land under the bar are mostly responsibly in a drunken driving death.

The Journal of Martinsburg reported Tuesday that Dirty Dawg Saloon LLC was found to be 48% responsible for the death of 26-year-old Chad Triesler. Triesler was walking home in 2014 when he was hit by driver Sarah Ashley Quaglio, who had been drinking at the bar.

She was sentenced to up to five years in prison. A civil negligence lawsuit was filed against the bar and landowner, Mason Springs, LLC.

The jury says Mason Springs was 50% responsible and Triesler 2%. The jury awarded more than $2 million in damages to Triesler’s family and ordered the bar and landowner to pay $900,000 and $170,000 in punitive damages, respectively.