A lawsuit has been filed in Pinellas County in the September 2013 crash that killed a couple riding a tandem bicycle on the Clearwater Memorial Causeway.
Rob Lemon and Hilary Michalak were riding east on the causeway when a Nissan pickup crashed into them just after 6 a.m. Lemon, 25, died the day of the crash. Michalak, 27, died three weeks later after being in a coma at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.
According to partner newspaper the Tampa Bay Times, Michalak's family has filed a lawsuit against Christopher Patrick Weed, the driver accused in the deadly crash.
The wrongful death lawsuit also names Weed's employer at the time of the crash - Shephard's Beach Resort.
Weed, who remains in jail on charges of leaving the scene of a deadly crash, has said he blacked out while driving home from a shift at work at the resort.
Weed, 30, who was employed as a "bar back" at Shephard's tiki bar, was drinking "excessive amounts of alcohol" — at one point with his supervisor — between 2 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. on Sept. 2, according to the lawsuit.
According to the Times, the 18-page complaint also claims that Shephard's violated the "dram shop" law, a Florida statute that finds an establishment liable if it sells alcohol to a "habitually addicted" person who causes damage or injury while intoxicated. The lawsuit called Weed a "habitual drunkard" who consumed alcohol on numerous occasions in front of co-workers.
Shephard's has not commented on the lawsuit.