The family of a woman killed by an alleged drunken driver is suing a Kaneohe bar where the motorist had allegedly been drinking before the crash.
Rene Nihipali of Honolulu was killed June 30, 2012, when a Jeep Compass crossed the centerline on Kamehameha Highway and struck her pickup head-on in Kaaawa.
Nihipali’s widower and two daughters filed a lawsuit Thursday in Circuit Court against Kralk Enterprises, doing business as Club Komo Mai, and the other driver, Sione Glenn Tilini.
The suit claims the bar should have known that Tilini was already intoxicated when the bar served him alcoholic drinks. It claims the liquor the bar served to Tilini was a direct cause of the crash, which killed Nihipali and injured two passengers in Tilini’s SUV.
Tilini, a Marine stationed in Kaneohe at the time of the crash, according to the lawsuit, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and first-degree negligent homicide.
Tilini, who was 25 at the time, posted $15,000 bond. His trial is pending.
Kralk Enterprises and its owner, Ann Kaauamo, could not be reached for comment.
In 2011 the Honolulu Liquor Commission looked into whether the bar’s liquor license should be revoked after it was linked to two killings.
In January 2011 an altercation at Club Komo Mai ended with the fatal shooting of Joel Botelho, 27, of Kaneohe.
Makuola Collins was sentenced to life in prison for Botelho’s murder.
In 2008 the Honolulu Liquor Commission fined the bar $2,000 and put it on six months’ probation for serving liquor to Steven Wilcox, 19, who was stabbed to death in the bar’s parking lot in June 2008.
The Honolulu Liquor Commission said the bar renewed its license for the 2015 fiscal year, which starts Tuesday.
The bar is in Kaneohe Shopping Center on Kamehameha Highway across the street from the Kaneohe police substation.
