BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A Jefferson County jury this afternoon found that an Ensley nightclub must pay $37 million and a former Birmingham police officer must pay $3.25 million in damages in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a church music minister killed in a 2009 crash.

The verdict against James Lenoir Kendrick and Club Volcano was delivered before Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Elisabeth A. French.

Kendrick, 39, was convicted in 2011 of reckless manslaughter in a drunken driving wreck that killed 35-year-old Derric Rush.

On Nov. 18, 2009, Rush was driving home to Hoover from a Wednesday night service at his Hueytown church when the wreck happened.

Kendrick, a 12-year police veteran who was off-duty, rammed into Rush's car on Interstate 20/59. Rush died after he was ejected from the vehicle.

Kendrick has been in prison since last August, when he began his 12-year sentence.

The wrongful death suit was filed Aug. 11, 2011, by Rush's widow, Peggy Bender Rush, and her 11-year-old son against Kendrick and Volcano Enterprises Inc., the company that operated Club Volcano, where Kendrick had been drinking on the night of the wreck.

The suit wasn't about money, but instead about the statement a decision against Kendrick and the club could make in the community, Peggy Bender Rush said.

"I felt, as a wife and a mother, that it was my responsibility as a citizen to do whatever I could to help keep this from happening to another family," she said.

After a three-day trial, the jury took about four hours to reach its verdict. Their decision stipulates that Club Volcano pay $10 million to Peggy Bender Rush, $17 million to her son, and $10 million in punitive damages. Kendrick must pay $3.25 million.

"It meant a lot to me as a mother that the jury thought to go above and beyond what was asked for my son," Peggy Bender Rush said. "It means a lot that they felt that his loss deserved more recognition."

The decision demonstrates that jurors are just not willing to tolerate certain conduct, said Rush's attorney, Leon Ashford. His law partner, Jamie Moncus, also represented Rush.

"This was a drunk driving tragedy that resulted in a verdict which sends a very appropriate message to bars that break the law and to people who drink and drive and would take an innocent life," Ashford said.

According to the suit, Kendrick and a friend were downtown when they "consumed most of a 750 ml bottle of Crown Royal liquor while sitting in a parked vehicle in the parking lot on the premises of the defendant, Club Volcano. Both of these men became intoxicated. It is believed that this practice was known, condoned and allowed by Defendant Club Volcano."

The suit alleged that Kendrick negligently and wantonly operated his automobile "on the public roads while under the influence of alcohol" and "at an excessive, reckless and unsafe speed," among other allegations.

The suit also says that Club Volcano should not have continued to serve alcohol to Kendrick when he was visibly intoxicated and should not have allowed him to leave when he was incapable of driving safely.

According to the suit, the club "had a duty to the people who travel on public roads not to serve alcohol to an intoxicated person who they know or should know would be driving. It had a duty to act reasonably to protect others from harm through measures and controls to avoid serving the intoxicated patron or to arrange suitable transportation."

It cites the dram shop act, which imposes civil liability on the owner of an establishment that sells alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person who then injures another person because he or she is intoxication.

After Kendrick and his friend left the club, Kendrick drove his 2005 Lexus on Interstate 20/59 toward downtown.

In his 2011 trial, he testified that he was not drunk and was on his way to pick up his daughter from a hair appointment.

During Kendrick's trial, prosecutors said his blood-alcohol level was .14-.17, well above the legal driving limit, and he was traveling faster than 100 mph.

Kendrick rammed into the back of Rush's convertible. The vehicles locked and skidded across several lanes before crashing into a concrete barrier near the Arkadelphia exit.

Jefferson County prosecutors charged Kendrick with reckless murder, but the jury convicted him of the lesser charge of reckless manslaughter.

On Aug. 10, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction, and Kendrick was jailed Aug. 15.

He also is liable for about $43,000 in restitution payments but has been declared indigent.

After his arrest, Kendrick was placed on leave from the police department, and he eventually resigned.