- March 6, 2025
A Palm Coast woman has filed a lawsuit against the owner of a gas station that allegedly sold her 17-year-old daughter alcohol last summer, preventing her from making an “informed decision” before she got into a truck with a friend who the complainant says was under the influence of marijuana.
Kathleen Smith filed the lawsuit in the Volusia County Circuit Court in April. Her daughter, Meredith Smith, was killed in an accident on Interstate 95, in Daytona Beach, last July while she rode in a truck driven by Lane Burnsed.
The lawsuit says that Burnsed and Smith stopped at the Sunoco gas station in Bunnell on July 26, where Smith purchased and subsequently drank alcohol. Later that night, the two were involved in a three-car wreck that killed both of them. Burnsed was 18 years old the night of the crash. Smith was 17.
Kathleen Smith filed the lawsuit against Sunoco on charges of negligence.
According to the complaint, employees at the Sunoco gas station on U.S. 1 failed to check Smith’s identification before selling her alcohol, an act of negligence.
“As a result of consuming the alcoholic beverages sold to her by the defendant, Sunoco Inc.’s employees or agents, Meredith Smith, deceased, became intoxicated and incapable of making a safe and informed decision as to whether to travel in a motor vehicle with another minor individual who had been under the influence of marijuana,” the complaint says.
Kathleen Smith is also suing Burnsed’s father, James Burnsed, of Bunnell, for wrongful death, saying he is “vicariously liable for the negligence of the driver of his vehicle,” according to a sworn complaint filed. The complaint says Lane Burnsed acted negligently by driving while under the influence of marijuana.
However, a Florida Highway Patrol investigation brought back negative results for drugs and alcohol in Burnsed’s system after the crash, which happened after Louis Nicholas Prinzo, of Ormond Beach, pulled to the shoulder of southbound Interstate 95 for unknown reasons. He then pulled back onto the road, in front of a car driven by Doron Nirel Lyn, setting off a chain of events that led to the death of the two teenagers.
Prinzo’s vehicle traveled back off the roadway. Meanwhile, Burnsed, who was traveling behind the other two vehicles, struck Lyn’s car. Lyn was ejected from his vehicle and later transported to the Halifax Health Medical Center, according to an FHP report.
Burnsed’s vehicle then struck a guardrail in the road’s median. Smith was pronounced dead on the scene. Burnsed died shortly after the accident at the hospital.
Charges are pending against Prinzo, Sgt. Kim Montes, an FHP spokesperson, said Monday. Blood tests came back positive for drugs, but the agency does not yet know whether Prinzo was impaired, and if so, to what extent.
“Unlike alcohol, with drugs, whether they be prescription drugs or illegal drugs, there’s no level in state statutes that says what amount is over the state limit, because they aren’t legal to begin with,” Montes said.
Prinzo’s blood test results are being forwarded to a toxicologist who will give his professional opinion of Prinzo’s state at the time of the accident. Then, charges will be filed accordingly.
Meanwhile, Kathleen Smith is asking for $15,000 in damages from James Burnsed on wrongful death charges, exclusive of attorney’s fees and other costs accrued at trial. She filed two counts of negligence against Sunoco, asking for $15,000 in damages on each of the counts.
Kathleen Smith is represented by Rue, Ziffra & Caldwell. The parties who are being sued were issued their 20-day summons at the end of April.
