FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Tiger Woods, his girlfriend Erica Herman and his South Florida restaurant The Woods Jupiter, have been named in a wrongful death suit following the death of Nicholas F. Immesberger, who worked at Woods’ restaurant.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in Martin County, Florida, and alleges that Immesberger was served excessive amounts of alcohol prior to his death in a car crash on Dec. 10, 2018.
Immesberger’s blood alcohol level was .256, more than three times the legal limit, at the time of the accident. According to the lawsuit, Herman, the manager of The Woods Jupiter, recruited the 24-year-old to be a bartender at Woods’ restaurant despite having knowledge of his history of alcohol abuse.
The lawsuit alleges that, “Tiger is individually liable in this action because he individually participated in the serving of alcohol to Immesberger.” The suit also claims that Woods and Herman had direct knowledge of Immesberger’s problem with alcohol and that they were drinking with him “a few nights before the fatal crash.”
Attorneys for Immesberger’s family are seeking more than $15,000 in damages as well as “all appropriate damages plus costs.”
“We are all very sad that Nick passed away. We feel bad for him and his entire family,” Woods said on Tuesday at the PGA Championship when asked about the lawsuit.
Attorneys for the Immesberger family held a news conference on Tuesday at the same time Woods was meeting with the media at Bethpage. The family alleged that The Woods Jupiter has destroyed video evidence of Immesberger drinking at the bar for three hours prior to his fatal crash.
“One of the most significant issues we have here is the destruction of evidence,” said Spencer Kuvin, an attorney for the Immesberger family. “Obviously it shows that somebody knew something had gone wrong and they wanted to get rid of that evidence.”
The PGA Championship is Woods’ first event since winning the Masters in April.