Ethan Falkowitz's parents sue restaurants they allege overserved alcohol to convicted drunken driver in crash that killed 2 teens

A lawsuit filed by the parents of one of two tennis prodigies killed in a 2023 DWI crash in Jericho contends that three Plainview restaurants excessively served alcohol to Amandeep Singh, the Roslyn man convicted of plowing his pickup truck into the teen’s vehicle, contributing to their son’s death.

The suit, filed last week by Gary and Lynn Falkowitz, the parents of 14-year-old Ethan Falkowitz, also names Singh's father, who owned the 7,000-pound Dodge TRX pickup truck, and another man accused of providing Singh with cocaine and alcohol less than an hour before the crash.

"The lives of these two promising teenagers tragically ended, and the lives of their parents and respective families were indelibly changed, by the willful, wanton, malicious, reckless, negligent, and otherwise unlawful conduct of the defendants in this case," the lawsuit states. 

Singh, 36, a construction business owner, pleaded  guilty in January in the deaths of Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein, also 14, and was sentenced the following month to 8⅓ to 25 years behind bars.

"When there's a tragedy of this magnitude, there are usually other people involved who bear responsibility," said Jordan Merson, the Falkowitz's Manhattan-based attorney. "And that's the situation we feel here."

Members of the Falkowitz family did not respond to requests for comment. 

On May 3, 2023, the teens, who played on the Roslyn High School varsity team while still in middle school, were returning from a dinner with two older teammates celebrating a tennis tournament victory.

That same night Singh went out drinking whiskey and tequila with friends at several Plainview restaurants, prosecutors said.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Singh began drinking at Social Play Haus on Express Street before moving to Iavarone Italian Kitchen + Pizzeria on Old Country Road around 8 p.m., the lawsuit states. Almost an hour later, the group moved to The Shed, located in the same shopping center as Iavarone, where they would drink for another 40 minutes, the lawsuit contends.

Singh, the lawsuit states, was "grossly overserved to the point of being heavily intoxicated" at each of the restaurants. 

The establishments "displayed grossly poor judgment by continuing to serve alcoholic beverages to Amandeep Singh despite it being clear that he consumed excess alcoholic beverages and/or was intoxicated to the extent that he could not and should not legally drive," the lawsuit said.

New York State’s Dram Shop Act makes it illegal for bars and restaurants to overserve customers, holding them potentially liable if a customer causes an accident due to their intoxication.

Several friends called for a car service when the party broke up, prosecutors said. But Singh drove to the Muttontown home of a friend, Prabhleen Virk, where, the suit contends, he was served alcohol and/or cocaine before leaving a short time later.

Around that time, Zachary Sheena, 19, the driver of the four-door Alfa Romeo carrying Falkowitz and Hassenbein, was on North Broadway when Singh, driving the wrong way on the busy roadway and reaching speeds of more than 90 mph, collided with the teen's vehicle at 10:19 p.m., police said.

Drew and Ethan died before ambulances arrived while Sheena and the other passenger suffered serious injuries.

While Singh’s truck flipped over, he suffered only a cut to the back of his neck and was able to flee the scene, police said.

The suit names the three Plainview restaurants and their ownership groups, Virk and Jagdish Singh, who owned the truck his son was driving. None of the named defendants responded to requests for comment.

While Singh is behind bars, the lawsuit argues "there are others whose reckless, negligent and/or otherwise tortious conduct resulted in this tragedy, who have not yet been held accountable."

Merson said restaurants and bars have a legal responsibility to refuse service to visibly intoxicated customers.

"Singh was very intoxicated when he drove the car," he said. "And these are the establishments that it's our understanding he went to."

The Falkowitz family, which is seeking undisclosed compensation from the defendants for emotional suffering and other damages, could find their financial options from the suit somewhat limited, Merson concedes.

That's because Gov. Kathy Hochul has twice vetoed passage of the Grieving Families Act, a bipartisan bill that would change the state’s wrongful death statute by letting families recover damages for emotional suffering, including by suing for negligence such as medical malpractice.

The current statute, which dates back 175 years, allows civil court judgments only for "pecuniary loss" or the potential earning power of the deceased person, meaning that children and the elderly who do not work are valued less than members of the active workforce.

"A part of me is gone," Gary Falkowitz, who advocated for passage of the bill, told Newsday last year. "And I have to do everything in my power to right this wrong."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.