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Jury awards $5M to woman who lost her arm in drunk driving accident

 A headline like this gets attention.  The accident occurred in 2003 in Massachusetts.  If you read the article, you will see that the woman who lost her arm sued the drunk driver and the restaurant that served him 11 beers in a little over two hours.  That's called "dram shop liability."  Such a lawsuit would not exist in Virginia, because Virginia does not hold restaurants and bars that serve alcohol to intoxicated individuals responsible if the patrons leave their establishments after getting drunk and injure someone.  In this case, the drunk driver was an employee of the restaurant who started drinking at 10:30 p.m. after this shift was over and was served alcohol and drank heavily for two hours.  The woman passenger who lost her arm was not with him at the restaurant and met him at a party later.  After having three more beers and a rum and coke, the drunk driver and his passenger were on their way back to the party after going to a convenience store when they ran off the road and crashed into a parked school bus. 

Reaction to the verdict has been animated.  Some people say she was an idiot to get in the car driven by a drunk driver, that it was her fault, not the restaurant's; that the restaurant didn't force alcohol on the driver and should not have been held responsible.  Some people also called the judge and jury idiots for allowing the verdict in the first place.

What do you think?