The Associated Press
and The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cory Stauble, 16, and Jamie Parsley, 16, were killed by a drunken driver.

LOUISVILLE - A Mariemont company that owns a Louisville-area T.G.I. Friday's restaurant has agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the parents of two teenagers killed in a drunken driving crash last summer.

The settlement awarded Thursday was one of the largest in history, according to Peter Kilgore, general counsel for the National Restaurant Association since 1985.

Mark Eberenz, of Prospect, drank alcohol at the restaurant before driving his truck into a car carrying two 16-year-olds - a crash that killed all three. Eberenz, 42, had been drinking at the restaurant for about eight hours.

On July 9, a pickup driven by Eberenz crossed the median, striking the car driven by Jamie Parsley. Cory Stauble was her passenger. Both vehicles burned. Eberenz's blood-alcohol level was 0.254 percent, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08.

Ohio Valley Bistros Inc. also agreed to stipulations dealing with alcohol and illegal gambling at the restaurant.

The company agreed to post signs at the restaurant noting its right to refuse alcohol to impaired people and offering free cab rides; to hold quarterly staff meetings on how to monitor customers' drinking; to put the names of bar patrons on order tickets whenever possible, and to modify its employee application form to inquire about alcohol-related convictions.

Analysts say most of the stipulations exist in restaurant chains. But Ohio Valley Bistro - the second largest Friday's franchisee - refused to implement the guidelines at its 29 restaurants in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

"It's possible ... that the procedures were in place, but employees may have slipped up," Kilgore said.

A statement from Ohio Valley Bistro on Thursday said, "The settlement of this case was a business decision and should not be construed as an admission of responsibility on behalf of our restaurant or its employees."