Jake’s Bar Settles for $6.5M
- SCCLR Newsletter
- Sep 30
- 4 min read
By: John Monk
The insurance carrier for Jake’s Bar of Five Points in Columbia has paid $6.5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a man killed by a drunken driver alleged to have been overserved liquor at the bar.
Attorneys for Jake’s and its insurance carrier had filed a motion earlier this month to seal the amount of the settlement and keep it confidential. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. After The State newspaper hired veteran media lawyer Jay Bender to argue on the public’s behalf that the settlement amount should be public, Judge Thomas William “Billy” McGee III ordered the amount made public. McGee had indicated before he ruled that secret settlements in wrongful death cases did not conform to state law. “That’s a big number. No wonder they tried to keep it secret,” Bender said Tuesday.
The settlement order was filed Monday afternoon at the Richland County courthouse. In the lawsuit filed by the family of Charles Kennedy, who was killed in a head-on collision June 10, 2021, in Greenwood County, the family’s lawyers argued that both Jonathan Titus, the deceased driver of the other car in the crash, and Jake’s were at fault in the collision.
Family lawyers also argued that “Jake’s conduct was a contributing cause of the crash because it had served Mr. Titus to and beyond the point of intoxication prior to his getting behind the wheel,” Judge McGee’s order approving the settlement said. The settlement was paid by Clear Blue Insurance, Jake’s insurance carrier.
A statement in the settlement order included this language: “This amount ($6.5 million) is in excess of the coverage available under Jake’s of Columbia, Inc.’s liquor liability policy. “Clear Blue Insurance Company’s third-party administrator Fortis Risk Solutions’ failed to resolve this matter within the policy limits of $1 million when it had an opportunity to do so while simultaneously failing to perform a reasonable investigation which placed Jake’s at risk of a judgment well in excess of $1 million,” the settlement order said.
John T. Lay, an attorney for Jake’s, had told The State earlier that Jake’s motion to seal the amount of the settlement was “not borne out of the desire for secrecy, but rather the desire to avoid any misconception about Jake’s potential liability and the damages flowing therefrom, which would occur if any standard settlement order were to be entered in a vacuum without context.”
Under the settlement order, lawyers for the Kennedy family will get one-third of the $6.5 million, or $2.178 million. The lawyers are Will Lewis, Chris Moore and Grace Babcock. Kennedy’s widow, Mary Kennedy, will receive 50% of the remaining money, or about $2.161 million. His two children will each receive a half of the remaining money, or about $1.08 million each.
Lewis, lawyer for the Kennedy family, said, “Chuck was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather whose life was taken by a drunk driver on his way to work. We should be doing everything in our power to prevent tragedies like this. “Yet instead, some are using the death of someone like Chuck to push so-called ‘tort reform ’— nothing more than insurance welfare. It’s shameful. Limiting victims’ rights doesn’t save lives. Accountability does — and that is what we will continue to fight for,” Lewis said.
Jake’s had denied the claims made by the Kennedy family in the lawsuit and did not admit fault in the settlement. Jake’s claimed that Titus, who had caused the head-on crash, had been gone from Jake’s for five hours before the crash and had consumed cocaine, alcohol and marijuana after leaving the bar.
The Kennedy family’s complaint alleged that their investigation uncovered that Titus had performed as a drummer at Jake’s the night and he was “drinking continuously throughout. Multiple eyewitnesses confirmed that Titus was visibly and severely intoxicated while being served alcohol by Jake’s staff into the early morning hours,” the family’s allegations on file in Richland County court said. Kennedy, who was 59 when he was killed, was an S.C.
Department of Transportation worker who was on his way to a job site when Titus’s car crossed over the center line and into his lane and struck his vehicle. Postings on Facebook at the time described Kennedy as an avid fisherman and and racing fan who had a wonderful sense of humor.
A trial in the case had been set to begin Sept. 2, and the judge had scheduled two weeks of court time for the case. Butthe settlement was reached just before trial. Robert Goings, a Columbia attorney who handles wrongful death and personal injury cases, said Tuesday the $6.5 million resolution is one of the larger settlements paid out in a wrongful death case in South Carolina.
“You don’t pay this much money if you are just innocent,” Goings said. “The fact that they wanted a confidential settlement only shows they didn’t want the public to know the truth about what happened that night.” Bender said making settlements public in wrongful death cases is important for several reasons.
“Making the settlements public makes sure the rules are being followed for all the parties in litigation,” Bender said. “When courts operate openly, that provides assurance that rules will be applied fairly and even-handedly.”
Jake’s likely wanted the settlement kept secret because of the fears that the public would learn how much this kind of wrongful death was evaluated,“ Bender said. “Jake’s was likely concerned if the a jury saw a settlement of $6.5 million in a wrongful death case, that might be the starting point for the next wrongful death case.”
