'Party princess' Karlie Tomica retains high-profile defense attorney; family of hit & run victim files suit against her and Nikki Beach

John Goodman (left) and attorneys - Mark Shapiro, Guy Fronstin, and Roy Black -
react as a guilty verdict is announced in Goodman's DUI manslaughter trial,
March 23, 2012. Click image to enlarge. (Palm Beach Post photo.)

"Party princess" Karlie Tomica, the Nikki Beach bartender charged in the hit and run death last month of a South Beach executive chef, has retained attorney Mark Shapiro, a partner in famed defense attorney Roy Black's law firm, Black, Srebnick, Kornspan & Stumpf, P.A.

An entry on the website of the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court lists Shapiro as Tomica's attorney.

Shapiro's bio on his firm's website says he joined Black's firm "after nearly a decade of high-level trial work and criminal investigations as a prosecutor with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office."

Shapiro most recently assisted Black on the high-profile DUI manslaughter case of Palm Beach polo mogul, John Goodman.

Shapiro and Black lost that case.

Meanwhile, in other news related to Tomica's case, the first lawsuit tied to the hit and run death of chef Stefano Riccioletti has been filed.

Via the Huffington Post:

The son of the well-known chef killed in a South Beach hit-and-run has filed a lawsuit against the driver and her employer, nightclub Nikki Beach, as first reported by NBC6.

Though blood alcohol test reports are pending, a witness to the crash said bartenders 20-year-old Karlie Tomica, was "really drunk" when she plowed into the Shore Club's executive chef Stefano Riccioletti on Collins Avenue in the early morning hours of January 28. The witness followed Tomica to her home, where he said she could barely stand.
[...]
Tomica was "served and consumed alcohol at the club, with the club's knowledge and authority that she was underage the lawful drinking age," reads the complaint, embedded below. It states the club "knew or should have known that she was going to drive. It was foreseeable to the club that she posed a dangerous risk of injury or death to other motorists and/or pedestrians."

One section of the suit alleges that Nikki Beach's bartenders and servers are encouraged to consume alcohol with customers.

"The purpose of this practice," the suit says, "is to encourage liquor sales and to be-friend patrons and ensure they will return to the club."

Complaint Against Nikki Beach, Karlie Tomica