By Briana Vannozzi
Correspondent
The alcohol won’t be flowing at Martell’s come Sept. 28. For one month, until the 28th of October, the bar’s liquor license will be suspended. On top of that, owners agree to pay a $500,000 fine. It’s the result of a legal battle with the state stemming from an incident nearly two years ago.
Twenty-six-year-old Ashley Chieco left the bar noticeably intoxicated and drove off in someone else’s car, causing the crash that killed her and left another woman permanently injured.
The consent order, obtained by NJTV News through Martell’s Tiki Bar attorney Peter Manahan, says they chose to enter into the agreement instead of facing the economics of fighting a multi-year litigation against a state agency with an uncertain outcome. But, they’re not taking fault.
“Martell’s Tiki Bar, Inc., specifically does not enter a guilty plea nor does it make any admission of wrongdoing in connection with the specific Notice of Charges or in any other context or proceeding. There are substantial and credible defenses to those charges.”
“A 30-day out of season suspension coupled with a fine that amounts to a few days of receipts in the summer season, not for a multimillion dollar enterprise,” said Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Vincent Barrella.
Barrella says the penalty sends the wrong message.
“It seems to me that they roar like lions when it’s a small establishment or not politically connected, but when it’s a larger politically connected establishment they just seem to roll over,” he said.
He’s referring to two almost identical cases in New Jersey. Both resulted in fatal car crashes after drunk patrons left separate nightclubs. Those establishments were essentially shut down after forking over hefty fines and being stripped of their liquor licenses. But Barrella says Martell’s has a bigger financial and political stake in New Jersey.
“Martell’s and the owners of Martell’s are very well connected to both the Ocean County Republican chairperson, George Gilmore and locally to the local Republican establishment,” Barrella said.
The owners are known fundraisers within the Republican contingent; including Gov. Chris Christie when he was a candidate in 2009.
“This sends the message that if you’re big enough, you can do whatever you want. If you’re politically connected enough, you can do whatever you want,” said Barrella.
“So you have to take into account and expect that you’re going to have these problems and they say they did. They said they had protocols in place to prevent this from happening. All of that failed in this case, so if it fails, if those facts happen, that you didn’t properly monitor those people and prevent them from getting in cars you violated this law,” said Attorney Paul Edelstein.
Edelstein is the attorney representing Dana Corrar — the woman left permanently injured by the crash. His civil case is being stalled by Martell’s insurance companies.
As part of the agreement, staff will undergo training on the safe service of alcohol. It will be overseen by the state and paid for by the bar, and it’ll last as long as they have a liquor license.
“They probably should lose their license a little bit more, trying to bring back shore and having people come down here is going to be a deterrent if they’re not open. They just have to be a lot more careful about how they serve,” said Eileen Kelly-O’Brien.
The attorney general’s office and Martell’s attorney declined to respond to the allegations of political influence, nor would they provide further details on the agreement.