Drunk Beer Pong "Winner" Tries To Sue Bar After Getting Run Over

(The beer pong action at Wicked Willy's)

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a New Jersey man who blamed Wicked Willy's bar on Bleecker Street for getting him so drunk he tried to cross a highway and got run over. Alan Berger was 22 years old on that fateful night in 2009 when he dominated the beer pong table at Wicked Willy's. His lawyer argued that Berger should have been cut off, telling the Post "he was ‘winning’ and never left the beer-pong table." We were under the impression that you drink less when winning beer pong, but Berger's lawyer says his client got wasted because Wicked Willy's didn't monitor the action at the table. “They had just an unlimited amount of beer going on down there," the attorney says.

Berger took a bus home to New Jersey after a few hours of beer pong, and then got run over by a car going 50 mph along Highway 9 near Manalapan. He broke his hip, leg and foot, tore both his knees, and sustained a lacerated liver. And when they checked his blood alcohol content at the hospital it registered .26 — almost four times higher than the legal driving limit. Nevertheless, a judge ruled yesterday that Berger, not Willy, is to blame. "Plaintiff voluntarily engaged in the drinking game" and "consumed alcohol to the point of diminished capacity," ruled Justice Lucy Billings, setting a dangerous legal precedent in which drunk people are responsible for the consequences of their actions.

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By John Del Signore in Food on February 7, 2012 10:22 AM

Comments [rss]

"Tim Osman"

Wow the judge made a ruling based on common sense - Hooray!

indolent83

Nice math. .26/.08= 3.25. What school of math would round this up to "almost 4 times" the legal limit?

Peanut_Butter

You're thinking "intoxication". "Impairment" requires only .05.

indolent83

They were referencing the legal driving limit which is .08. Either way, your math wouldn't work either. .26/.05=5.2.

Peanut_Butter

No, .05 is the legal limit because anything above that is unlawful. So if you take .26 and subtract .05, you get .21, which when divided by .05 yields a factor of almost 4.

indolent83

While I was unaware of New York's "Driving While Impaired" laws over .05 (A quick search showed colorado has this too, not sure of any others), your calculation is still completely asinine. Who calculates a multiplication factor like that? And that's besides the point, because .21/.05 is still 4.2. Read: greater than 4, not "almost 4" ...

Peanut_Butter

Not asinine because the post said "almost four times higher than", not "almost four times." Hence, my subtraction.

And "almost" can be higher or lower than. Your interpretation that it must be below is an unwarranted assumption. (Merriam-Webster: "almost": very nearly, but not exactly or entirely.)

indolent83

From your own definition, "not entirely" would indicate "not quite" or "less than." You're implying it is logical to say, "I'm almost at the finish line," when I'm 10 feet passed it.

Neglecting the pedantic "almost" issue, reverse your the math logic and ask anyone, "What number is four times higher than .05?" You'll get the same answer (.2) as if you asked, "What is 4 times .05?" The "higher than" in the sentence is meaningless. Next, you'll probably try telling me that 3 is 2 times higher than 1...

Timon_8

Wait, he wasn't too impaired to find the bus and catch it, AND he had time to sober up some on the ride all the way out to Manalapan? This guy is just dumb, but of course the whole story screams that fact.

brooklynRick

Applause

beardobees

Good thing this got thrown out -- otherwise, Wicked Willy might have had to testify, and there goes your whole case.

eflash

this looks more like beruit to me. also, i thought bars weren't allowed to sponsor drinking games?

TheRealCannibal

I'm proud to say I have no idea how to play beer pong

Peanut_Butter

How long did it take you to become accustomed to the sunlight?

TheRealCannibal

what is sunlight

Peanut_Butter

Touche!

Sinchy

I have to assume he was there with friends, did he try to sue them too?
The judge is a hero in this case.

AaronRed99

That place looks like the First Circle of hell.

LtWorf

Its the epicenter of NYUs 'Team Bro'. But they do have cheap drinks.

Oh yeah, Alan Berger: take some responsibility dumbass. Just be thankful you're still alive.