Aramark Settles Drunk Driving Suit

Aramark Corp. has agreed to pay $25 million to the family of a young girl paralyzed in a car accident nine years ago resulting from the actions of the firm’s concessions employees. The accident was caused by a drunk fan leaving a football game at Giants Stadium and Aramark was sued as the vendor whose employees continued to serve the 30-year-old man beer after he was intoxicated. Daniel Lanzaro later admitted he drank 16 beers over the course of the day before crashing his pickup into the car in which the girl and her family were riding.

The settlement with the family of Antonia Verni, now 11, took place last year but was only disclosed December 3rd this year, when a state appeals court ordered the documents unsealed over the family's objections. Verni, who was paralyzed by the accident and requires a ventilator to breathe, received $23.5 million while her mother, Fazila Verni, received $1.5 million for injuries she suffered in the crash.

In 2005, a civil-court jury ordered Aramark to pay $105 million but that was overturned by an appeals court the following year. Lanzaro served five years in prison as a result of the incident and was released late last year.