A Dallas couple left seriously burned after a bar’s flaming cocktail exploded on them is taking legal action.
Abigael Hance-Briscoe, 32, and Dustin Johnson were enjoying a night out before the horrific accident.
The couple went for drinks at a bar called Twisted Trick on August 26. Johnson ordered the Flaming Pineapple – an Everclear-based drink, according to the lawsuit filed in Dallas County Court.
The elaborate drink was garnished with a torched lime. The bartender poured more Everclear into the drink and set it on fire while serving it, causing the glass to explode, the complaint alleges.
The flames from the shattered drink quickly spread to the couple, leaving second- and third-degree burns on their necks, arms and faces.
The lawsuit alleges that Hance-Briscoe and Johnson “suffered serious, disabling and permanently disfiguring personal injuries” due to Twisted Trick’s “negligence.”
They accuse the bartender of serving the drink “in an inappropriate and dangerous manner.”
Although both suffered serious injuries, Johnson was hospitalized for a few days, while Hance-Briscoe spent seven weeks in Parkland Health’s burn unit.
Hance-Briscoe and Dustin Johnson have filed a lawsuit against Twisted Trick, the Dallas bar where they suffered their life-changing injuries
The flaming drink the couple burned was a flaming pineapple, garnished with a flaming lime
Hance-Briscoe said the red-hot flames essentially “melted” her bra to her body. Hospital staff had to cut it off.
“They had to shave my head at the hospital to gain access to the ear and scalp where it was burned,” she said WFAA. ‘My skin fell off my arms.’
Not only did her debilitating burns require three skin grafts, but Hance-Briscoe also developed sepsis, which made it difficult for her to walk. She now uses a walker to get around.
She told WFAA, “One small choice at a restaurant can make all that life-changing difference.”
Some of Johnson’s skin was saved by his beard, but his arms, chest and neck were not spared.
According to one GoFundMe made on behalf of the couple, they were supposed to move into a new home on August 30, but their health problems drastically changed their plans.
Based on an Oct. 12 GoFundMe update, Hance-Briscoe had begun a “gradual return to work” and Johnson has returned full-time.
Although they move on with their lives, they are traumatized by the night they were burned and suffer the long-term consequences.
Johnson’s upper body was badly burned, but his facial hair saved most of his face from the fire
Johnson’s chest was left raw, peeling and blistering after the flames reached his skin
Johnson left the hospital after a few days, but Hance-Briscoe had to stay for seven weeks
Johnson told WFAA, “That moment gets repeated more times than it should.”
According to the lawsuit, the couple is seeking more than $1 million from the owners of Twisted Trick, which has since closed.
It claims the establishment and its staff had ‘a duty to exercise the degree of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise to avoid harm’, something they allegedly failed to do.
But Twisted Trick’s legal team claimed the bar “generally denies any allegations,” according to the defendant’s response to the lawsuit.
The document claims that Twisted Trick is not at fault for the injuries sustained and that any damages suffered were “caused or aggravated” by the couple’s “failure to exercise reasonable care.”
It goes on to say that the lawsuit is based on an “independent, unforeseeable, superseding and/or intervening cause” that has nothing to do with the bartender or the bar.
The couple’s relationship has played a crucial role in their recovery, as they said the only way they have been able to get through these grueling times is by depending on each other.
‘I remember saying when I got into the ambulance, ‘You can’t separate me from him. He’s all I have,” Hance-Briscoe told WFAA, referring to Johnson.
An attorney for the owners of the Twisted Trick did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The couple’s devastating lawsuit comes after a Tennessee man died from a scorching hotel shower.
Alex Chronis, 76, tragically lost his life on June 19, 2022 after showering at Econo Lodge in Erlanger, Kentucky, about 10 miles across the border from Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 19, 2021.
After the incident, Chronis, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was in and out of the hospital and had to undergo grueling procedures, according to the lawsuit.
Johnson’s chest has healed, but his burns will always be visible due to their severity
Hance-Briscoe now has to use a walker to get around as she suffered from sepsis as a result of her burns
Hance-Briscoe said she couldn’t get through these injuries or her recovery without Johnson by her side
“His death was caused by complications from the severe burning wounds that could have been so easily prevented if the hotel management had simply put a procedure in place for the safety of their customers,” said Jeff Blankenship, the family’s attorney.
On April 4, 2021, a student vacationing in Cancun, Mexico, suffered second-degree burns to her face and arm from a flaming drink at a restaurant.
Marissa Daniel, 26, was enjoying her last night on holiday with friends when footage showed alcohol going up in flames at their table, similar to Hance-Briscoe and Johnson’s experience.
Daniel scalded as the drink exploded in her face as she tried to stop her friend from getting burned.
She claimed staff did not do enough to prevent or assist the accident as she battled the flames.