Family sues friends, bar for providing daughter's fatal alcohol

Mankato, MN -- The family of a woman who drank herself to death on her 21st birthday is suing the bar where she drank and friends who allegedly brought her drinks.

Amanda Jax died last October after celebrating her birthday with friends at Sidelines Bar and Grill in Mankato.

Her family spoke out Thursday after filing a lawsuit against the bar and friends in Blue Earth County.

"If somebody would've just helped Amanda, taken her to the hospital, called 911, her death could've been prevented," said Jenny Haag, Jax's mother. "I just wish they would've done something."

According to the lawsuit, Jax drank one or two beers at an apartment that night. Then, at the bar, she drank a pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea, five shots of hard alcohol, two more beers and something called a "Cherry Bomb," which is a mix of cherry vodka and an energy drink.

"The very obvious case is that this bar should not have served this person alcohol to this level," said Alan Milavetz, the family's attorney.

The lawsuit says Jax passed out at the bar and friends took her to an apartment. One friend put her to bed at about 12:15 a.m., and four of them checked on her about 15 minutes later, according to the suit. Jax had been unconscious for about an hour and had vomited twice when a friend placed Jax on her left side and left her alone, the lawsuit said.

Jax's friends found her body later that morning, and called 911. Authorities have said Jax died of alcohol poisoning and had a blood alcohol level of nearly 0.46 percent.

Friends told investigators Jax was often drunk. She had two drunken-driving arrests on her record.

"I'm not going to say she didn't drink," Haag said. "But I just don't think it's the hundreds of times they said."

Reporters asked Haag whether her daughter was ultimately responsible for how much she drank.

"Do you know how much 0.46 is?" Haag said. "I can't imagine she was making a rational choice after a certain point."

Jax's family is suing five of her friends, saying they bought her the drinks and should've taken Jax to the hospital.

"I just wish they would've done something," said a tearful Haag.

KARE 11 spoke to Mark Solheim Thursday. He's an attorney for Hannah M. Becker, one of the friends named in the lawsuit.

"My client's incredibly devastated over the loss of her friend," Solheim says. "She's equally distraught about being included in this family's lawsuit."

Solheim says, under the law, his client is not to blame for Jax's death. He plans to aggressively fight the lawsuit and ask a judge to dismiss it.

"There's no duty imposed on a drinking companion to protect another," he said.

Solheim adds that in his 18 years of dealing with alcohol-related negligence cases, he has never seen a lawsuit similar to this one.

Attorneys for Jax's family admit it could be a precedent-setting suit. But they believe they have a strong case.

"There were a lot of opportunities where someone could have stepped in and done something," Milavetz said. "It would have taken five minutes to take her to the hospital."

In addition to Becker, the lawsuit names four other friends: Kathryn A. Lensing, 21, Rochester, Minn.; Richard T. Johnson, 22, Mankato, Minn.; Jonathan R. McIntyre, 22, St. Paul; and Per David Kvalsten, Durbin, N.D.

KARE 11 left either e-mail or phone messages for all four, but as of 6 p.m. Thursday, no messages had been returned.

The lawsuit also names Blattner Enterprises, which owns Sidelines Bar and Grill. KARE 11 left a message for the owners, but that call has not been returned either.

Sidelines closed this week after the city of Mankato suspended its liquor license.

The county attorney's office declined to file criminal charges in this case, saying it couldn't prove "beyond a reasonable doubt that any particular person was criminally responsible."

For now, Amanda Jax's relatives just hopes their story sends a powerful message about drinking.

"We don't want any other family to suffer the tragedy that we have had to go through," Haag said.

By Joe Fryer, KARE 11 News

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