A Brooklyn appeals court has ruled that Brittany Lahm of Manhattan is not liable for the death and injury of her friends during a road mishap in 2008 along the New York State Thruway. The court found that the accused just reacted naturally when one of her companions suddenly pulled the strings of her bikini top eventually exposing her breasts.
Lahm was 19 when the fatal car accident happened. The former girl group vocalist was driving her Lexus from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, accompanied by four of her friends going home to New York. Brandon Berman, who celebrated his 19th birthday that day and seated at the back of the car, untied Lahm's bikini leading the female driver to instinctively cover herself and lose control of the vehicle. The car hit the guardrail in the center of the road and flipped before resting on the side of the opposite lane.
Berman was killed and the other three passengers sustained injuries. Passenger Jason Pelletier sued Lahm for negligence but a court in 2011 ruled that Lahm was not guilty.
Damages were not granted to Pelletier whose football career with Yale University was cut short. According to a report on New York Daily News, Pelletier appeared in court two years ago and testified that Lahm leaned forward in an attempt to fix her bikini top while cruising at 65 mph. Pelletier's legal team argued that the young driver should have pulled over before re-tieing her bikini. Lahm refuted the arguments of her friend and insisted that her hands were just briefly off the steering wheel.
Judge Sheri Roman, who handled the case also stated in her ruling that Berman showed disruptive behavior even before pulling the strings of Lahm's top. The teenager was said to have opened an umbrella while the car was in motion and even stuck his feet next to the driver's face.
"That Brandon would ultimately commit an act which would cause Brittany to lose control of the vehicle, under the circumstances of this case, cannot be deemed sudden or unexpected," Roman stated in her ruling.
Lahm now works for the music label of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The former singer and her lawyer did not comment on the latest ruling about the case.
