Lawsuit blames Tiger Woods for employee's drunken driving death

Tiger Woods and his girlfriend, Erica Herman, have been named in a wrongful-death lawsuit, according to CNN.Woods is the owner and Herman the general manager of the golfer's flagship restaurant, The Woods, in Jupiter, Florida.The lawsuit alleges that a bartender at the restaurant finished a shift a 3 p.m. on December 10, was served alcohol to the point of intoxication, and then left The Woods to drive home. He crashed his car and died at 6 p.m.The lawsuit, brought forward by the bartender's family, says the deceased was a “habitual drunkard” whose alcohol problems were known by those who worked at The Woods.The lawsuit also says Woods and Herman were drinking with the bartender a few days before his death.Visit Business Insider's home page for more stories.Tiger Woods and his girlfriend, Erica Herman, have been named in a wrongful-death lawsuit, according to CNN.Woods is the owner and Herman the general manager of the golfer's flagship restaurant, The Woods, in Jupiter, Florida. CNN reports that the lawsuit accuses the staff at The Woods of overserving alcohol to its bartender Nicholas Immesberger, 24, after his shift ended at 3 p.m. on December 10.Immesberger then got in his Corvette, crashed en route to his home, and died at approximately 6 p.m.His blood alcohol level at the time of death was .256, the lawsuit says, which is more than three times the legal limit of .08.Read more: Trump says Tiger Woods is a 'great guy' who embodies the 'American spirit of pushing boundaries'According to USA Today, the lawsuit has been brought forward by Immesberger's family. It alleges that employees at The Woods were aware the bartender had problems with alcohol and that Woods reasonably should have known he “was a habitual drunkard.”“The employees and management at The Woods had direct knowledge that Immesberger had a habitual problem with alcohol,” the lawsuit says.“In fact, employees and managers knew that Immesberger had attended Alcoholic Anonymous meetings prior to the night of his crash and was attempting to treat his disease. Despite this, the employees and management at The Woods continued to serve Immesberger alcohol while he was working as well as after work, while he sat at the bar.”Read more: Serena Williams says she was 'literally in tears' watching the Masters because Tiger Woods shows 'greatness like no other'USA Today reports that under state alcohol laws Woods could be held liable even if he wasn't present at the restaurant on December 10.The lawsuit, which says Herman recruited Immesberger, adds that Immesberger's alcoholism was “so bad” that one of his friends asked staff at The Woods not to serve Immesberger alcohol.It also says that Woods and Herman socialized and drank with Immesberger “only a few nights before the fatal crash of December 10.”The lawsuit seeks in excess of $15,000. Representatives at The Woods did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.Woods is preparing to compete in the PGA Championship, one of golf's four major competitions, at Bethpage Black Course in New York this week. It is his first tournament since winning The Masters last month.