Two mothers sue NLR bar, mall operator
Women claim nightclub over-served driver who was charged in deadly collision
The mothers of two 20-year-old men killed in what authorities describe as a drunken-driving collision have sued the North Little Rock nightclub the women claim over-served the driver deemed by authorities at fault for the head-on crash, who is now facing felony negligent homicide charges.
The suit, filed Tuesday against Nick’s Bar Louie Inc., doing business as Bar Louie, Broadway Inc., which operates Bar Louie’s restaurant, and the McCain Mall Co. LLC Partnership, operators of the North Little Rock mall, comes on the third anniversary of the April 15, 2021, crash that killed Ja’Zon Anthony Scott of Jacksonville and Toney Curtis Jones III of Little Rock.
According to Arkansas State Police, Scott and Jones were riding in a 2016 Chevrolet Impala, driven south on U.S. 67 in Sherwood by Jones’ then 17– year-old brother Zatone Christopher Jones, when they were hit head-on around midnight by McKenzie Rae Cummings of Beebe, who had driven her 2017 Buick sport utility vehicle into oncoming traffic.
The impact of the collision sent Cummings’ SUV into a concrete wall while the men’s vehicle spun along that wall, according to court files. One of the men died at the scene while the second died from his injuries at the hospital. Zatone Jones was also injured.
A Pulaski County sheriff’s deputy reported Cummings had nearly struck him while driving the wrong way on the highway just before the crash but he was able to swerve clear.
Blood tests later showed that Cummings, who was living in Little Rock at the time, had the cough suppressants methorphan and dextromethorphan in her system along with a blood-alcohol level of 0.25, about three times the legal level.
She was arrested about five months after the crash on two counts of negligent homicide and one count of second-degree battery. She was released on $50,000 bond and faces up to 46 years in prison. Her trial has not been scheduled.
“All of these charges arose from the over-serving and sale of alcohol by defendant
Bar Louie,” according to the suit filed by Kamysha Lee, the mother of Toney Jones, and Michael Scott, mother of Ja’Zon Scott.
Cummings is not a party to the litigation, which states that she spent “several hours” at Bar Louie in the McCain Mall, spending about $60, most of that for liquor. Her insurance paid a $66,667 settlement to the Scott family and $81,666 to the Jones family, court records show.
The 58-page lawsuit describes the nightclub as “a known hot spot for alcohol-related crime, injuries and other disturbances,” stating that North Little Rock police document 32 calls for service related to the night club in the months leading up to the crash, with another 45 incidents logged by police in the months after.
According to the suit, Bar Louie violated state alcohol regulations involving selling liquor to drunk people, with the women directly blaming the nightclub for the crash.
“Had defendant Bar Louie not sold and/or continued to sell alcoholic beverages to Cummings after she became clearly intoxicated then Toney Jones and Ja’Zon Scott would not have lost their lives in this particular incident,” the filing states.
The McCain Mall is also responsible because it “owed Cummings a duty to use reasonable and ordinary care to maintain the premise in a reasonably safe condition, including, but not limited to making sure the tenants knew and/or complied with Arkansas law concerning the serving of alcohol to its patrons,” the suit states.
“Defendant McCain Mall … and their employees and/ or agents … were negligent in that they failed to use ordinary and reasonable care to maintain the premises in a reasonable safe condition by allowing Cummings to become overserved, in violation of Arkansas law and, as such, ultimately claimed the life of Toney Jones and Ja’Zon Scott.”
Lee is being represented by attorneys Jeremy McNabb and Meredith Moore of Rainwater, Holt & Sexton law firm while Scott’s lawyer is Paul Pfeiffer of The Pfeiffer Law Firm.