A $109.7-million jury verdict against a Giants Stadium concessionaire in a high-profile drunk-driving case has been overturned by a New Jersey appeals court, Bloomberg News reported Aug. 3.

In 1999, a drunk Giants fan crashed his car into another carrying Antonia Verni, 2, leaving her a quadriplegic. Verni's parents sued Aramark Corp., saying that a company employee kept serving beer to the drunk fan, Daniel Lanzaro, and contributed to the crash.

But this week, the state Appellate Division ruled that Superior Court Judge Richard J. Donohue made "multiple errors" in the case, and threw out the judgment. The appeals court said Donohue erred in allowing testimony in the case about rowdy behavior and a "culture of intoxication" at Giants Stadium.

"The evidence had the clear capacity to mislead the jury, to inflame the jury and to detract from the central issue in the case," the appeals court said. "There is no direct evidence of service while visibly intoxicated to Lanzaro, who testified that he knew he had to behave as if he were sober in order to be served."

The court ordered a new trial for Aramark, and the lawyer for the Verni family said that the ruling also voids a pretrial deal with the Giants, the NFL, and the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, who will again be named as parties to the lawsuit if a new trial takes place. But the lawyer also promised to appeal the latest decision to the state Supreme Court.

Lanzaro testified that he began drinking before the game on the day of the crash and tipped an Aramark server $10 to sell him more than the two-beer limit. He also continued drinking after the game prior to the crash.

But the appeals court noted, "Plaintiffs produced no witnesses that actually observed Lanzaro purchasing beer at the stadium on the date of the accident. Nor did they submit any internal reports that show sales to visibly intoxicated patrons on that date."

"Evidence of drunken attendees is inadmissible," the appeals court added. "It does not account for the possibility that patrons may have consumed the alcohol off premises, before the game at a tailgate event, or that the alcohol was purchased by a sober patron who supplied it to an intoxicated patron."

"While we are saddened by the injuries suffered by Antonia Verni, we are gratified by today's court decision," said Aramark spokeswoman Kristine Grow.