THE NOAH BENARDOUT FOUNDATION
A registered Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Corporation for the prevention of DUI tragedies.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Noah Benardout Foundation’s primary goal is to advocate immediate education and habit-forming skills to end the tragedies of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) which are 100% preventable. Direct engagement with robust awareness HAS to change the narrative.
We have partnered with The California Highway Patrol, Los Angeles Police Department, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the California Office of Traffic and Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration among others, for rapid traction through the media ecosystem.
NOAH BENARDOUT
27 March 1995 - 1 August 2019
On August 1st, 2019 my beautiful, talented brother Noah Benardout was tragically killed by the recklessness of a drunk driver. Noah was waiting on the sidewalk to cross the street when his killer drove through an intersection, at high speed, smashing into another vehicle and sending that vehicle spinning into a traffic light where Noah was waiting. Noah died instantly at the scene. At just 24 years old. A phenomenal musician, on the verge of deserved success that he had tirelessly worked toward with integrity and patience for many years as the artist LOVR®. His brand new EP, Loners was finished the day he died. He will never ever get to enjoy the benefits of his hard work but now it is my mission not only to bring his music to the world but importantly to bring awareness through music to stop DUI for ever. Join me in supporting his foundation through fundraising events to lobby for an end to DUI.
- Lily Benardout
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE DRUNK THAT KILLED NOAH
Due to be released on 23rd March 2023
Jacob D Gralitzer
Today, you will be released from the Male Community Reentry Program, having served only 13 weeks behind bars and less than a third of your criminal sentence for murdering our son. And whilst you may think that you have gamed the criminal justice system, the civil system can and will always find killers like you guilty.
Through the staggering work and success of our attorney Spencer Lucas and the team at Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP, the implications of your ignorance and irresponsible behavior is now etched into California’s legal history in one of the largest wrongful death results obtained for the parents of an adult child ever reached, with a $200 million judgment on your head for the rest of your life.
Your crime of driving drunk, driving egregiously over the speed limit, and killing an innocent human being can never be commuted. Instead, your name, Jacob D. Gralitzer has been recorded in the Superior Court of the State of California, charged with the wrongful death of our beloved son, Noah Benardout.
Your recklessness has set a precedent, and raised the bar for the value of human life, highlighting the strength of our relationship with our beautiful son, who you so callously killed.
So as you sit down for dinner on your first night out as a free man, with your parents, who, like you, have shamefully never ever reached out to apologize, mark our words, you will be forced to acknowledge your crimes. Because, from hereon in, the name Jacob D Gralitzer, will always be associated with the reprehensible crime of driving drunk and wrongful death.
Marc, Marie & Lily Benardout
LANDMARK JUDGEMENT
Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP Obtains $200 Million Judgment Against Drunk Driver Responsible for Death of Musician Noah Benardout
LOS ANGELES - 07 March, 2023. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has signed a $200 million judgment for the parents of Noah Benardout, a 24-year-old musician who was struck and killed by a vehicle following a collision caused by a drunk driver. The landmark judgment, signed on what was scheduled to be the first day of trial, includes $100 million in past and future wrongful death damages for Noah's father, Marc, and $100 million in past and future wrongful death damages for Noah's mother, Marie. Plaintiffs are represented in the matter by Spencer Lucas, Marguerite Sanvictores, and Alec Clark of Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP. The Parties reached an agreement regarding the judgment of which the terms of payment remain confidential.
"In an instant, one drunk man behind the wheel robbed the Benardout family of their son, their brother, and their best friend -- there is no amount of money that will make them feel whole again," said lead trial attorney, Spencer Lucas. "We are honored to have stood beside Marc, Marie, and Lily in seeking justice for Noah and we are incredibly proud of the work they have done, and continue to do, to raise awareness and bring change to end the tragedies of drunk and drugged driving."
On August 1, 2019, Defendant Jacob D. Gralitzer was attending a ViacomCBS employee premiere party for the now-cancelled Comedy Central late night talk show Lights Out With David Spade. As alleged in the complaint, Defendant Gralitzer became intoxicated at the party and then proceeded to get behind the wheel of an Infiniti Q60S and drove through the streets of West Hollywood at recklessly high speeds. As Gralitzer traveled eastbound on Melrose Avenue, he violently collided with the driver of an Acura MDX traveling westbound on Melrose and making a left turn onto Martel Avenue. The intense impact of the collision caused the Acura MDX to careen onto the southwest corner of the intersection of Melrose and Martel, striking pedestrian Noah Benardout while he was standing on the sidewalk. Noah sustained major blunt force trauma to his head and died as a result of his injuries.
Following the collision, Defendant Gralitzer was criminally charged and pled no contest to felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. On February 1, 2022, he was sentenced to four (4) years in state prison – yet he served just six (6) weeks in Los Angeles County jail followed by seven (7) weeks in North Kern County Prison. On May 3, 2022, Gralitzer was transferred to a Male Community Reentry Program location where he will serve less than one-third of his sentence before being released later this month, due to his classification by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as a nonviolent offender.
FAMILY STATEMENT ON THE JUDGEMENT
"The criminal justice system has completely failed our family. For three and a half years we fought for accountability from the murderer of our son. Only through the hard work of our civil attorney Spencer Lucas, and Team Noah at Panish Shea Boyle & Ravipudi have we been able to achieve this judgement through the civil system. We hope that this judgment is a warning to everyone that Drunk Driving is unacceptable on every level.
In this age of being accountable for past and future transgressions we all have a moral obligation to each other to not be irresponsible when it comes to consuming alcohol and getting in a vehicle. But Jacob Gralitzer, the convicted speeding drunk driving murderer of our son, has continued to avoid accountability. He should have known better, because his mother was a District Attorney who supervised the drunk driving unit in Ventura County. It is deplorable that neither him nor his family have reached out to apologize. To add insult, he only served 7 weeks of a four year sentence in prison before being released into a rehab program, enabled by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s abuse of prop57, which categorically undermined a Judge’s sentencing.
The California criminal justice system is deficient beyond comprehension, even down to the classification that a Drunk Driving crime is considered non-violent. There is nothing non-violent about a drunk man, knowingly getting into his vehicle, driving at almost double the speed limit and crashing through an intersection causing the death of our son who as a pedestrian was innocently waiting to cross the road. No medical expert in the world would contest that the force of impact and blunt head trauma to Noah was non-violent.
We sincerely hope that not only the offenders, the repeat offenders and those that will be drunk driving tonight think about this judgement, but we need the law makers, the legislators and Governor to finally own up that enough is enough. Changes need to be made now. Our safety is a basic human right and those despicable individuals that flagrantly ignore this need to be stopped today.
This judgement will never bring back our beautiful son Noah, but what we hope it will do is to send a strong message to the people that continue to drink and drive, and whose selfish actions take innocent lives on a daily basis.
Our hope is that this judgement, along with our continued advocacy alongside Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and our Foundation, will go a long way to prevent other families from the life sentence of pain and suffering that we now endure with the loss of our amazing son Noah."
ORANGE COUNTY SC LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO END DRUNK DRIVING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NOAH BENARDOUT FOUNDATION
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LABOR DAY 2022 AWARENESS
ORANGE COUNTY SC JOIN FORCES WITH MADD
FOR LABOR DAY WEEKEND AWARENESS
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 3RD
OCSC vs MEMPHIS 901FC
Orange County SC is partnering with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to remind fans to be the designated driver during one of the most dangerous weekends of the year, Labor Day weekend. The match will be held at the Championship Soccer Stadium in the City of Irvine on Saturday, September 3rd. A portion of the funds raised go directly to MADD’s lifesaving mission here in Southern California and to provide necessary community services to those affected by drunk and drugged driving.
During the match, players from OCSC will be wearing black armbands to commemorate victims of drunk driving, victims’ families will bring out the ceremonial ball and there will be a halftime penalty shot competition featuring first responders sponsored by the Noah Benardout Foundation. There will also be incentives for designated drivers.
NEWS
TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BILL
BRAND NEW merchandise now available. Click here or on the button above.
27TH MARCH 2022
Today we should have been celebrating Noah's 27th Birthday but a selfish irresponsible drunk driver destroyed that.
To celebrate his life here's a YouTube link to an unreleased demo titled "Wherever You Are"
FACTS ON FACTS - How many do you know?
