Alabama High Court Rejects $37M Default Judgment Against Nightclub

The Alabama Supreme Court has tossed out a $37 million judgment against a Jefferson County nightclub.

The court ruled 9-0 Friday that there was not a sufficient effort to notify the nightclub owner of the litigation before a court awarded the $37 million default judgment.

The family of Derric Edwin Rush won the default judgment against Volcano Enterprises after authorities said an off-duty police officer drank at the club for several hours and then was involved in a traffic accident that killed Rush. The family said the nightclub owner, Daryl Williams, could not be served with notice of the suit despite repeated attempts, and they published legal notices instead. When he didn’t appear at trial, the court awarded a default judgment.

The Supreme Court said more effort was need to contact Williams.