State Farm Insurance is suing a drunken driver's employer -- Deschutes Brewery -- for $230,000 for allegedly allowing the man to drink as much free beer as he liked the evening that he crashed into a Toyota 4-Runner with four people inside.



The lawsuit claims that Deschutes Brewery allowed Joseph Umphery unlimited access to beer in a keg room at the back of its bottling plant and at its brew pub in Bend. Umphery's supervisor told him that the company permitted employees to drink one beer each at the end of their shifts in the keg room, according to the suit, but no one monitored how much employees took.



The suit claims that employees often ended up intoxicated as they drank throughout their shifts, and that Umphery's supervisor encouraged him to drink even though he was an alcoholic who had been sober for nine months.



Gary Fish, president of Deschutes Brewery, said his company did an investigation and found the facts leading up to the crash to be "significantly different" than portrayed by State Farm. He said Umphery was an employee for six to eight weeks.



Fish disagreed that Deschutes fostered a culture of irresponsible drinking.



"The full story is not being told in that complaint," Fish said. "... I believe Deschutes Brewery has always behaved in a responsible manner."



In addition to the brew pub in downtown Bend, the company also has a pub in Portland's Pearl District.



According to the suit, on Feb. 22, 2008, Umphery drank 10 to 13 beers at the keg room and brew pub, then five to seven more beers at a strip club called "The Fan" in Redmond even though he was visibly drunk, the lawsuit alleges. A bouncer told him to leave for arguing with another customer, then helped him to his 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass, according to the suit.



As he drove home along U.S. 20, Umphery slammed into the rear-end of a 2003 Toyota 4-Runner, driven by Brian Vajda. Vajda and three passengers were injured when the SUV rolled several times, crashed through a "guard fence," and hit a pine tree, according to the suit. All were taken to the hospital, including one of the passengers who was pulled from the SUV after rescuers cut through the roof.



Umphery had a blood alcohol level of 0.29, according to the suit. The 27-year-old was convicted of driving under the influence of intoxicants, second-degree assault, reckless driving, giving false information to police and recklessly endangering others. He was sentenced to nearly six years in prison in Deschutes County Circuit Court and ordered to pay about $384,000 in restitution.



The suit was filed by Portland attorney Eric Virshbo in Multnomah County Circuit Court late Friday.



It states that Umphery didn't have auto insurance, and State Farm paid out $230,000 for the injuries to the SUV's passengers and damage to the SUV. The insurance company is suing Deschutes Brewery as well as the strip club for the money.



-- Aimee Green



