Tiger Woods on Lawsuit: Death of Ex-Employee Nicholas Immesberger 'Very Sad'

Tiger Woods called the death of The Woods Jupiter bartender Nicholas Immesberger "very sad" during a press conference ahead of the PGA Championship. 

"We're all very sad that Nick passed away," Woods said on Tuesday, according to Golfweek's Bill Speros. "It was a terrible night, a terrible ending. And we feel bad for him and his entire family. It's very sad."

Woods and The Woods Jupiter general manager Erica Herman, who is also the golfer's girlfriend, are facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the Immesberger family.

According to CNN's Steve Almasy and Jamiel Lynch, the 24-year-old Immesberger died on Dec. 10, 2018, after he crashed his Corvette approximately 20 miles from the restaurant. The lawsuit alleges (h/t TMZ Sports) the crash occurred after he stayed hours after his shift at the restaurant to drink and reached the point of "severe intoxication."

At the time of his death, Immesberger had a blood alcohol level of .256, which is more than three times the legal limit in Florida. He was also reportedly driving an estimated 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, per Almasy and Lynch.

The lawsuit also alleges people at the restaurant knew how much Immesberger was drinking prior to the crash and that employees knew he struggled with alcoholism and had been in an alcohol-related crash in November.

"Tiger knew, or reasonably should have known, that Immesberger was habitually addicted to the use of any or all alcoholic beverages, and/or was a habitual drunkard," the lawsuit alleged, per ESPN.com.

It's not clear if Woods or Herman were at the restaurant on the night of Dec. 10.

Furthermore, Spencer Kuvin, an attorney for the Immesberger family, alleges video evidence of Immesberger drinking at the bar prior to the fatal crash was destroyed, according to ESPN.com:

"One of the most significant issues we have here is the destruction of evidence. Obviously it shows that somebody knew something had gone wrong and they wanted to get rid of that evidence. We have evidence to show that that videotape, showing Nick at the bar that night after he got off at 3 p.m., drinking for three hours at the bar, was destroyed shortly after the crash had occurred.

"So we have through our investigation uncovered evidence to show that the bar knew what happened, they knew about the crash that night and shortly thereafter that video evidence was destroyed and deleted off the servers they had there at The Woods."

Per TMZ, the family believes Woods, Herman and the restaurant should be held responsible for medical and funeral expenses as well as other "appropriate damages." The family said Woods is "directly responsible for ensuring that his employees and management ... were not over serving its employees/customers."