He's Graduating/She's Still Dead

(John Clark Burns Jr.) was a regular there and we feel like employees of the business knew his history.-- William Hovater

Deep pockets. If you're not familiar with that little bit of legal slang, it means you sue the person/entity with the most money. Apparently in the case of the death of Brittany Marie Underwood, this would be the downtown Florence bar "On the Rocks." Thursday, Underwood's parents brought suit against OTR for five million. We're going to guess that John Clark Burns Jr.'s insurance company is also a prime target for a suit; however, we've not heard of one being filed as yet.

Since September, we've had several readers inquire about Burns' condition (he was also injured in the September 9th Cypress Inn, Tennessee, crash). We've learned that Burns will be graduating from UNA with a degree in business administration come this May. It's safe to infer that Burns is getting on with his life.

*****

Will Underwood's family definitely sue Burns? That we can't answer. We do know that those who contacted us after the young woman's death had nothing but praise for Burns, painted him as a victim, and accused this blog of lying about alcohol being a factor in their relative's death...and all after the State of Tennessee had already issued an arrest warrant for Burns on charges of vehicular homicide.

OTR employees may have shown extremely poor judgment in serving Burns, but it's nevertheless John Clark Burns Jr.s' decision to drink and drive that took the life of Brittany Underwood.

*****

Will the Underwood family win their lawsuit? They've demanded a jury trial; we predict they'll win. Then what of OTR? Over 20 years ago, a similar suit put a downtown Florence restaurant out of business. Let's hope OTR has some very good liability insurance.



Shoalanda