College student’s fatal alcohol binge

Many defendants, including five of her friends as well as the inevitable bar, are to blame for not doing more to keep Amanda Jax from downing so much alcohol that night, according to the lawsuit by her family. (“Alcohol death: five times limit”, Mankato (Minn.) Free Press, Nov. 9; Dan Nienaber, “Lawyer: Civil suit coming […]

Many defendants, including five of her friends as well as the inevitable bar, are to blame for not doing more to keep Amanda Jax from downing so much alcohol that night, according to the lawsuit by her family. (“Alcohol death: five times limit”, Mankato (Minn.) Free Press, Nov. 9; Dan Nienaber, “Lawyer: Civil suit coming in drinking death”, Mankato Free Press, Dec. 28; “The defendants and their alleged actions that night”, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Feb. 28; Scarlet Raven, Feb. 29).

7 Comments

  • First, the obligatory My heart goes out to the family…

    Indeed a tragedy it is. Let me “correct” the quoted barrister: “The only good thing coming out of this will be my beach-house in Key West.” Nearly half of the fluid in this girl’s body was from distilled spirits. I’d say she was on a mission. I’m straying from the legal context of this site’s theme. But how in the hell did this girl’s body not reject (or eject) that much booze? I know, 100 lbs and that amounts to far less substance than say, just about everyone else. But I mean, really, was there a funnel and hose involved at any point? Or perhaps it was just extremely poor judgment on some one’s part. No worries, though. Check out Bizarro’s website. Fourth post down, insurance cos’ profit through the roof.

  • No one can deny that any parent that has to bury their child is tragic. There were a lot of factors that led to this young woman’s death.

    One of the quotes from the mother in an article from the Star Tribune is quite telling.

    Haag, Jax’s mother, said the family hopes the publicity in this case will keep others from drinking and dying.

    “We didn’t know that this could happen,” Jax’s mother said.

    Your daughter was drunk, according to her friends, “100’s of times,” had received 2 DUI’s, and the parents “didn’t know” the consequences of binge drinking?

  • Todd Rogers: “Nearly half of the fluid in this girl’s body was from distilled spirits.”

    No, nearly half of one percent of her blood was alcohol. Still quite a bit.

    The reasons she died was that her body didn’t eject the alcohol. I’ve had friends who drank too much in college and had to get their stomachs pumped because they didn’t throw it up.

  • It happened to me in college at LSU; I registered a .55 BAC once. Highest the hospital had ever seen. I survived and testified at a subsequent liquor license hearing for the bar in front of the state authorities that the bar was not responsible; only I was. I am so proud of that now. The taking responsibility part, I mean.

  • PatW.
    Let me make sure I completely understand this. You were in college, got irresponsibly drunk…like, Otis-drunk, and by the grace of God, perhaps set Guinness Records in the process, survived without drain-bramage, and now, having held yourself accountable, you actually feel good about this? Don’t you think you would have felt just a little bit better with a few million dollars (minus a third or course) in the bank? You’re a relic of a bygone era and John Edwards would like to have a word with you.

    Satire over – it’s that kind of anecdote that makes me think that perhaps there is a fragment of hope for our civilization…just maybe.

  • Todd,

    Please watch your choice of phrase. Mayberry references aside, some of us have to live with the name Otis.

  • Todd, don’t get your hopes up on civilization; that happened in 1993. The article’s story is now the norm.