The family of a man who fell ill and died just hours after allegedly drinking 18 brandies within 90 minutes in a drinking competition have settled their court action against a publican for €100,000.
William Nash (43), a labourer, died on August 28th, 1999, after he collapsed and became ill in the The Whitehorse Inn, Main Street, Mountrath, Co Laois, the High Court was told yesterday.
His widow, Diane Nash, Kennedy Park, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, had sued Anne Fitzpatrick, the owner of The Whitehorse Inn, on her own behalf and on behalf of the couple's four children.
Noting the €100,000 settlement of the action yesterday, and approving the payment into court of €15,000 for their youngest son, Kelvin (11), Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan expressed his deep sympathy to the Nash family in "this particularly tragic case".
In her action, Ms Nash claimed her husband had visited The Whitehorse Inn and, with three other people, began drinking pints of beer.
After consuming some pints of beer, it was claimed that Mr Nash, with the alleged knowledge and implied consent of Ms Fitzpatrick, had engaged in a competition with another man to see who could drink the most brandy.
It is alleged Mr Nash and his colleague were served approximately 18 brandies each within the space of 90 minutes.
It is alleged that at 5.l5pm that same day, Mr Nash's colleague had collapsed and that, shortly afterwards, Mr Nash became ill. Both men were taken to Portlaoise Hospital where Mr Nash was pronounced dead at 6.35pm.
Mr Nash died from aspiration of vomit due to alcohol intoxication.
In her defence, Ms Fitzpatrick admitted that Mr Nash visited her licensed premises on August 28th, 1999, but denied negligence or that he was served 18 brandies within a space of 90 minutes or at all.
It was also denied that Mr Nash, with the knowledge or implied consent of Ms Fitzpatrick, had engaged in a competition to determine who could drink the most brandy.
In court yesterday, Declan Doyle SC, for Ms Nash, said the case had been settled for €100,000 and costs.
The action against the pub was quite unusual and would have been a test case in this jurisdiction had it proceeded, Mr Doyle added.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan said this was clearly a high-risk form of litigation and a first for the country had it proceeded.
If the action had gone ahead and Ms Nash had succeeded, there would have had to be a finding of a very high degree of contributory negligence, he observed.