Family Sues Liquor Store Following Crash That Killed Morris Co. Father

CHATHAM, NJ — One year after a drunk driver killed a Chatham Township father, his family has filed a lawsuit against the liquor store where a Madison woman purchased a bottle of alcohol prior to the fatal wrong-way crash.

According to a lawsuit filed by Catherine Pacchia, whose husband Michael Pacchia Jr. died when Raynova's Nissan Rogue collided with his Jeep Wrangler, Yulia Raynova, 46, was unlawfully sold alcoholic beverages at the Bottle King on West Mount Pleasant Avenue in Livingston.

Pacchia claims that on the morning of March 28, 2022, after being unlawfully sold alcoholic beverages at the Bottle King, Raynova consumed the alcoholic beverages in the parking lot before driving her vehicle in a reckless and grossly negligent manner, resulting in the fatal collision.

"Employees did nothing to ensure that Raynova did not enter her motor vehicle and drive it after leaving the establishment of the Livingston Bottle King, despite Raynova’s visible intoxication while inside the Livingston Bottle King," according to the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Morris County. "Bottle King had an unquestionable, statutory duty to ensure that alcoholic beverages were not sold to any visibly intoxicated patrons."

Raynova previously admitted that her blood alcohol content was 0.136% — nearly double the legal limit of 0.08% — when she drove her car through a red light at the intersection of Lafayette Avenue and Watchung Avenue and collided with Pacchia Jr.'s car.

In the wrongful death suit, Pacchia's wife is seeking unspecified damages from Raynova and Bottle King for negligence, carelessness and recklessness that led to the death of Pacchia Jr.

"Damages for the anxiety, fear, serious injuries, the great and unspeakable conscious pain and suffering, both physical and emotional, and other intangible losses which Michael Pacchia, Jr. underwent prior to his death," the suit states.

Last September, Raynova was sentenced to six years in prison, subject to the No Early Release Act.

Raynova was initially charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, but the charge was upgraded to first-degree vehicular homicide on April 25 after it was determined that the crash occurred within 1,000 feet of Washington Avenue Elementary School.

She has been remanded to the Morris County jail since her arrest, according to police. Raynova must serve 85 percent of her sentence, or about five years and one month, and then serve five years on parole after she is released.

According to the lawsuit, the morning of the crash, Raynova returned to her car in the Bottle King parking lot and, at around 10:49 a.m., began driving erratically, driving over a concrete divider and a curb and stopping halfway across two parking spots.

A witness who later saw Raynova asleep at the wheel attempted to wake her, but Raynova was visibly intoxicated and unable to communicate with him, according to the lawsuit.

Raynova exited the Bottle King parking lot in her Nissan at approximately 11:00 a.m., driving in the opposite direction of oncoming traffic and crossing over the painted dividing lines.

The lawsuit claims that as she approached the intersection of Lafayette and Watchung avenues shortly after 11 a.m., she sped through a red light and collided with Pacchia's Jeep. Raynova's vehicle was traveling at 53 mph in a 35 mph zone.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the crash occurred at 11:21 a.m., and a subsequent search of Raynova's vehicle revealed an open bottle of Cognac liquor and a number of unknown pill bottles containing unmarked pills.

Pacchia, who was pronounced dead on the scene, was a father of four and had deep ties to the local lacrosse scene, according to his obituary.