NEWPORT — The family of a 20-year-old Newport woman who died in a head-on crash almost three years ago is suing the local lodge of a fraternal organization, saying it over-served the driver in the other car shortly before the collision.
The lawsuit, which is seeking $75,000 in damages, was filed last month by the family of Michelle Fenimore against the Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge on Golf Club Road in Newport, N.H.
The suit centers on the fatal crash in September 2017, when Kristin Lake’s car collided with Fenimore’s car on Route 10 in Croydon, killing Fenimore and passenger Nicholas Carpenter, 18. Prosecutors said Lake, then 22, had been drinking at the lodge just before the crash.
Fenimore was engaged to Carpenter’s brother, Nicholas Morse, and the three had just moved to Newport from the Northeast Kingdom, family members have said.
Fenimore and her soon-to-be brother-in-law were returning from working shifts at the J.C. Penney in West Lebanon the night of the crash, according to family.
Lake was initially charged with negligent homicide and aggravated driving under the influence, but was acquitted of all charges in a jury trial the following year.
In the May 19 lawsuit, Laconia, N.H.-based attorney Matthew Lahey claimed that the crash was a result of Lake being intoxicated while behind the wheel. The suit blamed servers at the Moose Lodge for continuing to sell Lake
alcoholic drinks even though she was “noticeably intoxicated.” The plaintiff is the executor of Fenimore’s estate, her mother Jennifer Rhodes, of Derby Line, Vt.
“As a direct and proximate result of the negligence of Defendant Moose Lodge in negligently serving alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person, the late Ms. Fenimore sustained severe injuries, result(ing) in her death,” Lahey wrote in the lawsuit, adding that as she died, Fenimore “experience(d) conscious physical and mental pain and suffering.”
The suit argued that servers should have known Lake was not fit to drive, especially since at least two people outside the Moose Lodge offered her a place to stay the night of the crash, according to the lawsuit.
After the crash, Lake was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where she was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.14, the lawsuit said.
The legal limit is 0.08, and defense attorney James Valente argued during the 2018 trial that Lake’s blood alcohol content had risen after the crash.
Larry Peck, administrator of the Moose Lodge, declined to comment on the case when reached by phone Monday.
The complaint also disputed some arguments that Valente made during the trial. Valente said at the time that Fenimore had crossed the center line into the northbound lane that night, causing the crash and that Fenimore may have been distracted by her phone.
But in the lawsuit, Fenimore’s family stated that Lake was the one who crossed over the center line first, prompting Fenimore to swerve into the oncoming lane to avoid her.
“Kristin Lake suddenly realized that she was traveling in the wrong lane and about to collide (with) the Fenimore vehicle, and suddenly swerved back into the northbound lane,” resulting in the crash, the complaint said.
A call and email to Lahey were not returned Monday. Messages to Lake and Rhodes were also not returned Monday.
Fenimore’s family is asking for $75,000 for the mental and physical pain Fenimore suffered during the crash, as well as her wrongful death, according to the lawsuit.
Situations like this — where a civil lawsuit is filed after an acquittal in the criminal case — are not uncommon, according to Albert Scherr, chairman of the International Criminal Law and Justice Program at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law. He said Lake’s not guilty verdict doesn’t necessarily mean the Moose Lodge will be excused.
“Elements of negligent homicide are different from elements of wrongful death (claims),” Scherr said, adding that the burden of proof is different as well. In a criminal case, prosecutors have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, whereas in a civil case, the plaintiff has to prove the case by a “preponderance of the evidence,” which can be an easier task.
He added that many times, regardless of the outcome of a criminal case, families will file a civil lawsuit as well, in an attempt to seek a different kind of justice.
“In a criminal case the victim or the state get nothing tangible out of it,” Scherr said. “In a civil case they get money.”
A court date for the case has not been announced.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.