The Still Bar and Grill faces wrongful death lawsuit, attorney discusses

AGAWAM, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - It’s been almost two years since two East Longmeadow residents were killed while driving the wrong way on I-91 after leaving The Still Bar and Grill in Agawam. Now, that establishment is closed and facing litigation including a wrongful death lawsuit.

We spoke with an attorney representing the family of James Bowen Jr., the passenger who died in that car crash back in September of 2022 ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the Agawam License Commission, which has The Still Bar and Grill on the agenda. We’ve been told that generally, this is the first step toward any type of sale of a business that requires a liquor license and one can assume a sale is in progress.

Raipher Pellegrino and his law firm are the attorneys representing the family of East Longmeadow native James Bowen Jr.

“The loss has been so traumatic for this family it’s really just trying to live day to day while they try to grieve this loss,” the attorney representing James Bowen Jr., Raipher Pellegrino told us.

Bowen’s friend Dominique Loiselle was driving on the wrong side of I-91 in Windsor, Connecticut when they were hit head on by a truck. The two were tragically killed and pronounced dead on scene.

According to court documents obtained by Western Mass News, the pair went to The Still Bar and Grill in Agawam following a trip to The Big E, the crash happened shortly after the two left The Still, and now both families are suing the bar for wrongful death.

“Our claim is that they overserved the driver of the car that Mr. Bowen was a passenger in and they should have been clearly aware that she was intoxicated and as a result of that it caused his death,” Pellegrino claimed.

The lawsuit states:

“Immediately upon arriving at The Still and in direct view of the still staff member(s), Dominique displayed signs of visible intoxication including but not limited to, difficulty walking, unsteadiness on her feet, and slurring of words.

The documents went on to say:

Despite Dominique displaying clear and obvious signs of intoxication, The Still served alcoholic beverages including but not limited to, a green tea shot and a tequila drink to Dominique, which she consumed.

We also spoke on the phone with one attorney representing Dominique’s family, and he told us they learned The Still was for sale, so they filed a motion to put any funds from a sale of the bar into an escrow account until the end of any court proceedings which was granted by the judge.

We found The Still temporarily closed on Wednesday, and found it’s listed for a license update under the name Main St. Still Inc. at Wednesday’s Agawam license commission meeting.

Pellegrino weighed in on the potential action.

“Generally, when there is a sale of an establishment that has a liquor license, in order to transfer a license, you have to have approval from the local liquor commission, in this case that would be Agawam,” he explained.

However, before the wrongful death lawsuit was filed there was another lawsuit in the works, which Pellegrino describes as highly unusual. He explained they were forced to go through the court to get critical video surveillance after the insurance company representing The Still allegedly refused to comply.

“In 33 years of practice, I have never had to file a lawsuit like that to obtain video through an insurance company,” he said.

Pellegrino also claimed when they finally obtained the video evidence, crucial pieces of footage were missing that they believe prove The Still was negligent.

“There’s a potential for what’s called a tort spoliation of evidence, that’s when party intentionally either destroys evidence or puts it beyond reach of a lawsuit for tactical advantage,” he told us.

We did reach out to the attorney representing The Still Bar and Grill but have not heard back. We will of course continue to bring you updates on this case as well as any potential sale of The Still.