Palm Beach Jury finds noted Boca Raton artist Lynn Chandler Novick liable for drunk driving crash; awards punitive damages. by Jennifer Aniston's, August 20, 2015

Palm Beach County; October 2, 2015. After four days of trial, a Palm Beach County jury returned a verdict finding Palm Beach County artist Lynne Chandler Novick liable for compensatory and punitive damages for a January 28, 2014 automobile crash which resulted in injuries to local business executive and father of three, Alexander Vargas.

During the trial which lasted four days officers from the Boca Raton police department testified that alcohol was found spilled on the interior of the vehicle at the scene of the accident. Police also testified that Ms. Novick was intoxicated at the scene, flunked a DUI roadside examination, and may have had family members attempt to conceal evidence of alcohol at the scene. Subsequent breathalyzer and urinalysis tests administered by the Palm Beach County Police Department detected the presence of Vicodin and alcohol in Ms. Novick’s system shortly after the crash.

According to the trial attorney for the Plaintiff, Raymond R. Dieppa, “South Florida has a huge problem with drunk drivers, when these drivers add prescription narcotics such as Vicodin to the mix the risk to the public increases exponentially. We feel the jury recognized the reckless nature of Ms. Novick’s actions and because of that elected to award both compensatory and punitive damages, consistent with a finding that Ms. Novick was intoxicated. “We can only hope the jury’s verdict deters this conduct in the future” stated Dieppa.Ms. Novick had previously plead guilty to a charge of reckless driving arising out of the subject accident.

At the time of publication Ms. Novick and her attorneys could not be reached for comment.

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