A Las Vegas woman is suing a local bar, alleging that employees overserved her partner, gave him cocaine and failed to call an ambulance when he fell and suffered a fatal head injury.
Jose Archuleta, 66, was an established regular at Jake’s Bar, located near Eastern and Sahara avenues in the east Las Vegas Valley. His long-term partner, Brandi Truman, filed a lawsuit against the bar last month, alleging that the business was negligent when Archuleta fatally injured himself on the night of May 9, 2024, and failed to provide him with timely medical assistance.
According to a Clark County coroner’s office autopsy report, Archuleta’s death was ruled an accident due to complications from a blunt force injury to the head. Contributing conditions were acute alcohol toxicity with chronic ethanolism, and recent cocaine use, the report said.
The lawsuit alleges that employees were socializing with Archuleta that night and that one of them supplied him with cocaine. Attorneys also wrote in the lawsuit that employees “continued to serve Decedent alcoholic beverages after he was visibly intoxicated.”
Archuleta fell to the floor and injured his head, and two employees walked him outside and left him by his vehicle, the lawsuit alleges. According to the lawsuit, Archuleta fell again while in the parking lot.
“Decedent remained by his vehicle for several hours without medical attention and was found by a bystander who called for an ambulance,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
Coroner’s investigation
Investigators were told that Archuleta was found unresponsive near his vehicle in the bar’s parking lot, according to the autopsy report. Archuleta was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where he died two days later.
At the hospital, Archuleta was diagnosed with a skull fracture and bleeding in his brain, according to the report.
An investigator wrote in the autopsy report that they spoke with the bar’s owner and manager, Cindee Petrocco. According to the report, Archuleta “had been observed falling and impacting his shoulder.”
“He was found on the ground next to his car the following morning in the parking lot, unresponsive,” the report said.
Petrocco told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that she was not aware the lawsuit alleged that employees gave Archuleta cocaine. She said her bar should not be held liable for Archuleta’s death.
“We’ve been friends for years, and it just breaks my heart that he’s not here,” Petrocco said. “And I think it’s time to let him rest in peace.”
She also said that she does not remember speaking with investigators from the coroner’s office and that she was not at the bar the night Archuleta fell.
Petrocco said Archuleta had been a patron at the bar for 15 years. He was known to leave his keys with the bartenders and sleep in his car after a night of drinking, she said.
She said an attorney associated with Truman had reached out to the bar shortly after Archuleta’s death.
“There was nothing to negotiate; we didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.
Liability for overserving
Attorney Marcus Berg, who represents Truman, said he focused the lawsuit on the allegation that employees were negligent and didn’t call for medical attention. He said it’s trickier to assign liability for overserving alcohol to a customer.
That’s because Nevada does not have a “dram shop” law, which would allow a third party to sue a business for overserving alcohol to a customer who caused harm, such as a DUI crash. Instead, Nevada law explicitly shields businesses from liability for overserving patrons.
It’s unclear how that law could affect the negligence claims surrounding Archuleta’s death.
“The bar is not responsible if he gets in his car and goes drunk driving and kills somebody,” Berg said. “But we feel like this is a little bit of a different situation.”
Truman said she had seen Archuleta be overserved at Jake’s bar multiple times over the years.
“They wouldn’t cut him off,” she said.
Petrocco disputed that claim and said the bar has a policy against overserving customers.
“I kick people out if they look intoxicated when they come in,” she said. “I tell them it’s time to leave when we know they’ve had enough.”
Truman said she met Archuleta in 2009, after he moved to Las Vegas from New Mexico. He was retired and enjoyed riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and throwing parties in his backyard.
Archuleta was known for helping people — he was always offering to help friends move, and he spent many days taking care of his mother during his retirement, Truman said.
“He was like a magnet; people were attracted to him,” she said.
Archuleta’s autopsy report indicates that he was found near his vehicle after he was injured. The report does not say who found him, but the lawsuit alleges that a “bystander” called an ambulance. Law enforcement was not involved in the investigation, the report said.
Berg said Archuleta should have received medical care for his injury sooner than he did, but proving negligence by a business can be a vague legal concept.
“Ultimately, we have to present these type of cases to juries and say: ‘What do you think? You are part of our community, and so you’re going to make the judgment call here. Do you think they operated like they should have, or do you think they fell below the industry standard and they should have done something differently?’” the attorney said.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.
