Law: Expensive Pour

The cost of one bottle of Cutty Sark Scotch whisky went up last week, to $72,500. That, at least, is what Joseph and Catherine Zak’s insurance company will have to pay for the bottle they served to Donald Gwinnell back in 1980. After leaving the Zaks’ home in Long Branch, N.J., Gwinnell smashed his car head on into a car driven by Marie Kelly, who sued. Last June the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the Zaks and other hosts could be found liable if they served liquor directly to a guest and sent him out drunk onto the highways.

No other top courts have followed New Jersey’s lead, though New Mexico and Oregon have statutes that are similar in effect. Kelly, 31, armed with the court’s ruling, went to trial last week to recover damages for her broken ankle and facial injuries. Her attorney argued that Gwinnell had downed the equivalent of 13 1 1/2-oz. shots of Scotch during his 90-minute visit; the Zaks, he said, had “poured and poured and poured.” Before any witnesses could testify, the insurance companies settled. Kelly will get a total of $172,500, $100,000 of it from Gwinnell’s insurance company, the rest from the Zaks’. Says Kelly: “If the whole thing can save one life, it’s worth it.”