The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

December 28, 2007

Lawyer: Civil suit coming in drinking death

By Dan Nienaber

MANKATO — Although prosecutors have decided against filing criminal charges against the bar where Amanda Jax was drinking the night of her death, a lawyer representing the former Minnesota State University student’s family said Friday a civil lawsuit will be filed soon.

Jax was found dead in a friend’s Mankato apartment the morning of Oct. 30. Police investigators later learned she died as a result of alcohol poisoning, had a blood-alcohol concentration of .46 and had spent the night before celebrating her birthday with friends downtown at Sidelines Bar and Grill. She drank beer and several shots of liquor during her two-hour stay at the bar, police reports said. Jax passed out in the bar and had to be carried to a car by the bartender and a man who had been drinking with her.

Blue Earth County Attorney Ross Arneson announced Thursday he would not be seeking charges against the 23-year-old bartender or Jax’s friend. There is not enough evidence to show someone could have known she was obviously intoxicated before serving her last drink, a multiple-shot cocktail called a “stop light.”

Jax, who weighed 100 pounds when she died, also had a shot of whiskey, helped down a pitcher of Long Island iced tea and drank an energy-drink-and-schnapps-infused “cherry bomb” before passing out, witnesses told investigators.

“The only good that can come out of this is having someone be held responsible for this so college kids aren’t over-served in bars,” said Alan Milavetz, the Edina attorney representing Jenny Haag, Jax’s mother.

“College kids aren’t drinking a few glasses of beer anymore,” Milavetz added. “When you’re talking about cherry bombs and other drinks, alcohol has become a recreational drug, and it’s killing college kids. That’s not something society should allow. People say her mother just wants money, but Jenny Haag would trade anything to have Amanda back.”

The owners of Sidelines have not commented publicly about Jax’s death. They did not respond Friday to a message left at the bar.

Witnesses told investigators Jax was an experienced drinker who had consumed large amounts of alcohol with them many times before. Court records also show Jax was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2005 and 2006.

Milavetz said those witnesses are blaming the victim.

“You don’t serve a college kid to the point they can’t stand up,” he said. “Especially a college kid who is out drinking legally for the first time.”

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