Sunday, January 19, 2025
16.0°F

Family injured in DUI crash sues Corner Bar and its owners

MAUREEN DOLAN/mdolan@cdapress.com | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 9 months AGO
by MAUREEN DOLAN/mdolan@cdapress.com
| April 23, 2015 9:00 PM

Attorneys have filed a lawsuit against a Coeur d'Alene bar they claim over-served a man who crashed his truck into a house in 2013, seriously injuring three people.

The Corner Bar and its owners, Jack and Diane Mannschreck, are the defendants named in the suit filed April 20 on behalf of Sherri Bloom, Jeffrey Groat and Bloom's daughter, who was 10 at the time of the crash.

Bloom, Groat and the child were inside Groat's Hattie Avenue home when Thomas Heinbaugh's vehicle drove through the walls of the house.

Heinbaugh, now 29, was found guilty in court of leaving the scene of an injury accident, for which he was sentenced to 18 months behind bars. He was also found guilty of aggravated DUI and sentenced to 8 years, six months, with 18 months fixed.

According to the Idaho Department of Corrections online offender search, Heinbaugh is currently an inmate at the Nampa Community Work Center. He will be eligible in September for parole for the aggravated DUI charge.

Bloom suffered a broken neck and lacerated liver in the crash. Groat's ribs, collarbone and shoulder were broken. Bloom's daughter's hip was dislocated.

Groat's dog, Burke, went missing following the crash. The teacup Great Dane was found limping near Kootenai Health, where its master was taken by ambulance following the crash, and returned to Groat.

The attorneys who filed the suit claim that as Bloom "lay beneath the rubble of the destroyed home, her minor daughter ... thought her mother had been killed."

The court documents allege that Heinbaugh's vehicle hit the home within moments of leaving the Corner Bar on Fourth Street. Lawyers for Bloom, Groat and the child claim that Heinbaugh's blood alcohol content was .236, based on a police-supervised blood draw after the crash.

The suit, filed by Coeur d'Alene lawyer Michael J. Verbillis and Attorney Tim Gresback of Moscow, seeks judgment from the Corner Bar and its two owners in excess of $10,000 per plaintiff.

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

Help find Burke, crash victim's dog
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 11 years, 2 months ago
Crash suspect arrested for aggravated DUI
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 11 years, 2 months ago
A family reunited
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 11 years, 2 months ago

ARTICLES BY MAUREEN DOLAN/MDOLAN@CDAPRESS.COM

Volkswagen van ignites wildfire
July 4, 2015 9 p.m.

Volkswagen van ignites wildfire

Benewah County blaze burned 5 acres before it was contained

Firefighters were still working Friday afternoon to extinguish the smoldering remains of a wildfire that started Thursday morning along Highway 5 in Benewah County.

April 23, 2015 9 p.m.

Family injured in DUI crash sues Corner Bar and its owners

Attorneys have filed a lawsuit against a Coeur d'Alene bar they claim over-served a man who crashed his truck into a house in 2013, seriously injuring three people.

May 28, 2015 9 p.m.

NIC to raise tuition

Trustees decide not to increase property taxes

For the third consecutive year, North Idaho College trustees decided to balance the college's budget by increasing tuition rather than levying additional property taxes.