SALT LAKE CITY — With his mother and two young sisters dead, his stepfather in the hospital and his family in shambles, Aljerino Ramirez was left to plan a funeral.

More than two years have passed, but Ramirez, 26, still struggles to talk as he recalls learning that — because of the unbelievable injuries his mother and the girls suffered when a drunk driver plowed headlong into their car — there was no option for an open-casket funeral.

"That's the hardest thing you have to hear, about your mom and your sisters, and the way that they died," Ramirez said Tuesday, weeping. "To this day, it still haunts me, it still hurts. You can never get over it."

Now Ramirez, 26, and his family hope that no other Utah families find themselves in the same heartbreaking situation. They are suing the Wendover casino that they claim continued to provide drinks to Paul Michael Mumford well after he was impaired, then let him drive home.

Because the crash occurred in Utah, the lawsuit is filed in Tooele County, where the state's laws don't shield businesses that provide alcohol from legal responsibility for their customers' actions.

Delphine John, 44, and her daughters Delilah Ramirez, 20, and Anaya Adame-Orozco, 3, died July 4, 2014, when Mumford, who was coming back to Utah from Wendover, suddenly turned his truck, heading the wrong way on westbound I-80, crashing into their car.

Jose Fidel Adame-Orozco, who was driving, suffered a collapsed lung, two broken ribs and a broken leg, police said.

Mumford told investigators he didn't remember the crash at all, according to charging documents. Originally charged with murder, he cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and one count of automobile homicide, second-degree felonies. He was sentenced to three one-to-15-year prison terms, two of which were ordered to be served consecutively, and is currently incarcerated.

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Accused wrong-way driver faces multiple charges in triple-fatal crash

The man accused of causing a horrific accident on I-80 near Wendover on Friday that killed a mother and her two daughters was criminally charged Monday. He doesn't remember the crash at all, according to charging documents.

Peppermill Casino and attorneys representing the company did not respond to calls for comment Tuesday.

Attorney Eric Olson, who is representing Adame-Orozco, Ramirez and other family members in the personal injury lawsuit, said he is seeking compensation from Peppermill Casino.

"The damages in this case are tremendous," Olson said. "Apart from the damages, these lawsuits serve another purpose, and this is to promote change and prevent something like this, hopefully, from happening again."

After the lawsuit was filed in late February last year, attorneys representing the casino acknowledged the tragic circumstances surrounding the case but filed a motion asking that the complaint be dismissed. The motion called the dispute "a classic conflict of Utah and Nevada substantive law," where drinking was done in Wendover but injury occurred over state lines.

In the motion, Peppermill's attorneys argued that Nevada law should be applied to the case because that's where the drinking occurred, and under that state's law, servers are immune from civil liability connected to the actions of people they provide alcohol to.

Olson fought back, arguing among other things that the accident happened in Utah and all the people involved that day were Utah residents. Following a hearing, 3rd District Judge Robert Adkins handed down a lengthy ruling in the family's favor.

Discussing the case, Olson cites the heavy marketing for Peppermill and other casinos in Utah meant to attract residents from across the border.

"It would simply be unfair for them to profit so heavily off of Utah, but then leave Utahns to deal with the consequences of the casinos' out-of-state alcohol service," Olson said.

With that question resolved, the lawsuit is now moving forward, with evidence and depositions being collected on both sides. The lawsuit will advance toward a jury trial unless a settlement agreement is reached first.

Perhaps because of the lawsuit, Ramirez hopes other families will be spared the pain he says he will never heal from. He believes his mother would have agreed with the decision.

"It's not fair, it's not right," Ramirez said. "My mom would probably say the same thing. She always said that when you do something, you need to man up, you need to take responsibility for what you did."

Talking about his mother and two younger sisters, Ramirez lights up.

His mother, he says, was compassionate and loving, and always willing to help him care for his own two young sons.

"She had the most unconditional love, no matter what you do," Ramirez said. "I was a tough kid growing up, so my mom has always had my back and been there."

One of Ramirez's deepest regrets is that now, when he needs parenting advice, he can no longer turn to his mother. When his children ask about their grandmother and aunts, it hurts to answer them.

Ramirez describes both of his sisters as innocent, sweet and kind.

Delilah Ramirez, he said, was willing to listen for hours if he needed to talk, and a friend to everyone.

"At the funeral I was surprised to see everyone, how many of her friends were there," he said. "She put people before herself, just like my mom."

Anaya was just a 3-year-old baby, he said, and happy to be "daddy's girl."

When Ramirez talks about the accident, he said he always begins by remembering two days before. That's the last time his family was all together, meeting at Lagoon for his birthday. He saw his mother once more the next day, when they went to lunch together, and when she was supposed to pick up Ramirez's youngest son to join her on their 4th of July trip.

"Thank God that he stayed with me," Ramirez says as an aside.

Ramirez was out with his then father-in-law spending some of his birthday money when he got the call about the accident.

"When you get that news, your body just, everything just drains out of you," he said.

He then began visiting Adame-Orozco daily in the hospital where he remained in intensive care. His stepfather's first question when he awoke was about Ramirez's mother and sisters.

Unprepared to tell the gravely injured man the truth, Ramirez at first said they were fine. Telling him the truth later was "the hardest thing I've ever done," he said.

The lawsuit also describes the ongoing physical and emotional toll the accident took on Adame-Orozco, and the medical costs that were piled upon the expense of three funerals.

Still, Ramirez knows that a lawsuit won't heal his family's loss.

"We have to go through a lot," Ramirez said. "It affects me, my family, it affects me everywhere."

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