ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
An accused drunken driver who had a mixed drink in her lap when she slammed into the back of a car has been ordered by a Roanoke jury to pay $60,000 to a woman injured in the crash.
The verdict, reached Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court, came in what is believed to be the first use in this area of a new law that allows imposition of punitive damages against drunken drivers.
Under the law, passed in 1994, motorists can recover punitive damages as part of a personal injury lawsuit if they can show that the person who caused an accident had a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent or higher.
That was the case the evening of Sept. 7, 1994, when a woman pulled out of a bar's parking lot on Williamson Road and minutes later slammed into the back of a car driven by Mary C. Cregger of Roanoke, a jury found Tuesday.
The jury awarded Cregger $15,000 in compensatory damages, which are intended to cover her medical costs and pain and suffering, plus another $45,000 in punitive damages to punish Desiree O. Bowden, who witnesses said caused the accident.
Brent Brown, a Roanoke lawyer who represented Cregger, said he believed it was the first use of the new law in the Roanoke Valley.
He told the jury that the law gave them a chance to make a community statement about the dangers of drunken driving and to punish a person who has so far escaped prosecution on drunken-driving charges.
Bowden, 39, was charged with DUI and reckless driving but never appeared in court for her trial. She also did not appear for Tuesday's civil trial.
Cregger's insurance carrier will initially pay the damages under her uninsured motorist policy. The company can seek to recover its losses from Bowden when and if she is located.
According to testimony during Tuesday's trial, Cregger was waiting to make a left turn at Williamson Road and Crockett Avenue when her car was rear-ended by Bowden with such force that it broke the driver's seat from its fastenings.
A witness testified that when he arrived at the accident scene, Bowden was trying to drive away as she drank from a mixed drink that she had kept in her lap. Tests showed that her blood-alcohol content was 0.31, Brown said. The level at which someone is presumed too intoxicated to drive is 0.08.
At the time of the impact, Bowden was going about 50 mph in a 35 mph zone and was weaving in and out of traffic, witnesses said.
Cregger suffered back injuries and was treated at a hospital and released the night of the accident.
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