Deputy District Attorney Marilyn Seymour of Long Beach is being sued in Los Angeles Superior Court by two women whose car she rear-ended near Cal State Long Beach while admittedly driving home drunk last year. The civil court case, which revealed that Seymour's blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit--continued Wednesday and is expected to last until next week.
After leaving The Beach Club on PCH April 2, 2010, Seymour rear-ended a car that Chelsea Ann Caughran and Jocelyn Hernandez were in. According to CBSLA.com, Seymour’s blood-alcohol level was .26--the legal limit is .08--and she has testified that she drank several tequila shots and three glasses of wine before leaving The Beach Club for home.
Seymour has publicly taken responsibility for the crash and apologized on the stand earlier this week. The civil trial seeks unspecified damages that are in dispute and which will be determined by the trial. Seymour maintains she was driving the speed limit of 40 to 45 m.p.h. while the plaintiffs maintain she was driving 70 m.p.h. down Coast Highway.
Ben Goldberg, owner and operations manager of The Beach Club, said Wednesday that he was unaware that a member of the District Attorney's Office--or any patron--had left the restaurant with more than twice the legal blood alcohol limit and then injured others in a car wreck a block or two away.
"We are not aware of the alleged incident," Goldberg said. "If it is true, this is the first we are hearing about it and we do not have any past history of anyone else involved in anything similar. We feel badly for anyone involved, but have no knowledge of the incident and have not been asked to verify whether this person was a customer at all.”
Patch on Wednesday attempted to reach Seymour through her attorney, Albert DiRocco, but his office said that he was in trial most of the day, and he did not return phone calls seeking comment. It was not immediately known what Seymour's current assignment is as a law enforcement/officer of the court. According to the lawsuit summary, the case was filed on August 27, 2010. Medical witnesses were expected to be testifying in the case.
