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Designated driver law gets first test

A nurse says she was kicked out of a bar for not drinking; themanager says she was obnoxious.

By LEONORA LAPETER ANTON, Times Staff Writer
Published January 24, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Rose Hamilton, 55, filed a complaint under a new state law for designated drivers.

ST. PETERSBURG - A woman who says she was thrown out of a Clearwater martini bar is the first to use a new state law that protects designated drivers.

Rose Hamilton, a 55-year-old nurse, filed a complaint with the state Wednesday, saying she was kicked out of the Dirty Martini Lounge for failing to order another alcoholic drink.

Hamilton, who had one drink and wanted to switch to coffee, said she had the potential to be the designated driver later in the evening.

"I just want people to be aware of these kinds of shenanigans in local bars," said Hamilton, who lives in Clearwater. "I mean, to force people to drink alcohol? What's with that?"

The law was passed last year after a designated driver was ordered to leave a Pinellas Park bar for failing to buy a drink. Bars found guilty of violating the law could be fined or have their liquor license suspended or revoked by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.

A spokesperson for the agency said Wednesday it had not yet reviewed the claim, but confirmed it was the first filed based on the designated driver law, which took effect last October.

Hamilton, however, may not quite fit the law's definition because she was not an officially designated driver, but might have become one.

"The law says 'if you declare yourself to be a designated driver,' but I think it certainly fits within the spirit of the law," said Tom Carey, a Clearwater lawyer who helped Hamilton file the complaint.

Carey represented Gary Maujean, a St. Petersburg designated driver who was thrown out of Carlie's Lounge in Pinellas Park in June 2006 for failing to order alcohol. The incident prompted the new law.

Rico Minasian, manager of the Dirty Martini Lounge, denied throwing Hamilton out for failing to drink alcohol. He said she was "obnoxious," insisted he serve coffee and never mentioned that she might be a designated driver.

"We don't serve coffee here," said Minasian, 43. "She was one of those women who wanted to complain. It got to the point that she was disturbing all the people around her and that's what happened."

Minasian said Hamilton also became upset because a soda cost $4.

Hamilton tells a different story. She says she went to the bar in a cab on Jan. 4. While she waited for some friends, she ordered a tall Bacardi and Diet Coke, paid $6.50 and tipped $2.

She then realized her friends might be driving and she might become the designated driver so she decided to switch to coffee, Hamilton said.

She says the bar manager told her they didn't have coffee. When she questioned this, she says the bar manager told her "if you drank coffee all night, how am I going to make any money?"

Hamilton said she told him she might be the designated driver once her friends arrived. She then asked for a diet soda. That's when the bar manager ordered her to leave or he'd call the police and she would be "taken out in handcuffs," Hamilton said.

She walked out.

Last year, State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, helped get the designated driver law passed after he learned what happened to Maujean, who was a designated driver for his wife and friends.

Maujean's civil case against Carlie's Lounge is still pending.

"I know these bars make their commission off liquor," said Maujean, 38, on Wednesday. "But I just can't believe this happened to someone else again."

[Last modified January 24, 2008, 00:09:49]