Columbia-area bar overserved alcohol to man who left and caused deadly crash, lawsuit claims
A Cayce restaurant and bar that recently announced it is closing because of rising liquor liability insurance rates is facing a lawsuit that alleges it overserved alcohol to a customer who left the bar and got into a car crash that killed two people.
On Sunday, Jan. 7, Henry’s of Cayce, located at 2108 State St., announced on social media that it would be closing its doors in late January after seven years in business.
“Due to the increased Liquor Liability Insurance we cannot continue to operate,” the business posted on Facebook.
Now the restaurant and bar is facing a wrongful death lawsuit accusing it of overserving a patron who later was involved in a deadly crash where a man and his granddaughter died.
Attorney and Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian’s law firm has filed the suit in Lexington County on the behalf of the families of Leeya Janae Leaverette and Cornelius Alexander Clory, Sr., who died in the wreck on Sept. 15, 2023.
The lawsuit alleges that, at about 6 p.m. that night, Joshua Yarborough was a customer at Henry’s on State Street. The suit claims Yarborough was “overserved an excessive number of alcoholic beverages.” He was served “several alcoholic beverages in less than one hour,” the suit claims.
Yarborough then left Henry’s, drove away and rear-ended a Chevy Suburban on 12th Street in West Columbia, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit goes on to say that Yarborough then fled that scene and continued down 12th Street, where he reportedly crashed into rear of a Hyundai sedan.
The wreck, which was not far from Zesto’s restaurant, made headlines last fall. Clory, 68, and his granddaughter Leaverette, 17, were in the Hyundai and died as a result of the crash. Clory’s wife also was in the Hyundai at the time of the wreck and was seriously injured.
The West Columbia Police Department arrested Yarborough and charged him with two counts of felony DUI resulting in death and one count of leaving the scene of an accident. That criminal case is still pending, according to court records.
The lawsuit alleges Clory and Leaverette’s deaths were “the direct, foreseeable, and proximate result” of the restaurant and bar serving Yarborough “an excessive number of alcoholic beverages” in less than an hour.
Columbia’s Free Times first reported on the Henry’s lawsuit.
The State left a message for Henry’s on Thursday. An attorney for the restaurant wasn’t listed in court filings as of Thursday morning.
