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Now this totally takes the cake in terms of frivolity in terms of today's litigous society. A patron of Bart & Urby's, a popular restaurant in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, has filed seven different lawsuits to the tune of more than $50,000 each against not only a man who assailed him, but also against the restaurant for failing to protect him. Since when is there a "good samaritan" law in Northeastern Pennsylvania where you're held liable or criminally-responsible if you don't wish to risk injury to yourself by stepping between two men in the middle of a fist-fight? Each party claims the other threw the first punch, but how can anyone know for sure unless someone witnessed the beginning of the fight? If the plaintiff indeed threw the first punch, then any injuries resulting from his actions are his OWN fault, as you can't sue somebody for a fight you started just because you were weaker and got the worst of it.
What is worst about this whole incident is that, according to a newspaper article I have read, each of these seven lawsuits against four men (his assailant, each of the co-owners of the restaurant, and a restaurant employee) is going to be presented in front of a jury, which will do nothing but tie up this county's already overburdened judicial system and waste tax dollars in a county that is up to its eyeballs in red ink.
The police report claims that the two men were engaged in the fight over the victim's wife. Something tells me that it sounds a bit peculiar. I'm no professional investigative officer, but I'm wondering if the assailant had an affair with the victim's wife, and then the victim showed up to confront him about it. If he put himself in harm's way by doing that, then these lawsuits should be thrown out. In any event, I only see these seven lawsuits (which total more than $350,000) as being frivolous unless the victim can prove to the juries that his injuries resulted from an uprovoked physical attack. As I said the last time, the assailant alleges that the victim threw the first punch and that he was merely defending himself. We'll have to wait for all of the details to emerge about this incident, but it personally seems to me as if this victim is being unreasonable in trying to sue anyone and everything that gets into his path. He's suing the restaurant's co-owners for MORE than he's suing the man who beat him. Why? He probably was coached by his attorney into realizing that the co-owners are much more financially well-off than the man who beat him, so he's approaching them for that reason.
One of the $50,000+ lawsuits alleges that the co-owners were negligent in hiring restaurant employees that failed to prevent this from occurring. Really? Would this man like to provide me with his crystal ball that would have permitted the two men to foresee the free-will of their employees in such an incident?
I'm sorry, but I'm just having an incredibly difficult time in having sympathy for people who get into fights at bars, especially when alcohol is involved. The victim likely could have diffused the situation by leaving the establishment when heated words were exchanged about his wife. Will that possibility arise from the lips of his attorney? Somehow I doubt it. It sounds like another textbook case of a person getting the "worst" of a fight lashing out.
I've been involved in numerous run-ins with a gay-basher on my campus. Do I make matters worse by confronting him and threatening physical conflict? No. I walk away, just as the victim could have done.
Last edited by SteelCityRising; 11-16-2007 at 07:07 AM..
Reason: Typo
The sad part is that there is always an ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyer (leech) willing to take on the case. More evidence that this area has way too many lawyers. I think NE PA has more ambulance chasers per capita than anywhere in the world.
Some moron gets in a fight....probably as a result of being a jackass and running his mouth at someone until he got slugged....and then he sues the bar? Amazing and ridiculous. Hopefully Bart and Urby's wins this one. Bart and Urby's is the type of business that I'd want to see more of in Wilkes-Barre...a decent respectable bar where you can have a decent beer and some food. W-B needs more Bart and Urby's and less White House Cafes. More places where you can get a good microbrew on draft, rather than Gennesee and 40 oz of Colt 45 malt liquor.
I totally agree. It is amazing how our court can let such ridiculous law suits to enter into the court room. I have seen many bar fights and not one sued. A few years back, a lady that I work with was stopped at the light by Genetti's and a young man hit her from the back. They estimated that he was doing at least 60 MPH, judging by the skid marks. Well, he tried to sue here. Crazy. They were going to trial until the one day they were at the court house to meet and he was late and came running around the corner. Luckily they saw him. Obviously the injuries that he claimed were none existant so they throw it out. Just another way to waste money.
And the way I see it, if I'm a restaurant employee...they're not paying me enough to be a referee in a fist fight between a couple of drunks.
Agreed. However I must specify that the victim alleges that he was sober and that the assailant was drunk, so I don't want to speculate about them both being drunk (in which case the victim would truly not have much of a case). I'm currently considering pursuing a position as a server at a downtown restaurant, and if people like the victim expect my 140-lb. frame to step between two fist-fighting men in the name of promoting my employer, then they are sadly mistaken.
Another thing I don't understand is when people try to sue bars for not "cutting them off." Did the bar's owners force your rear-end onto a stool? No. Did the bar's owners force the first lager down your throat? No. Did the bar's owners show negligence by not encouraging you before you walked into their establishment to have a designated driver ready? No. Too many people in this nation blame everyone else but themselves for their own stupid decisions. I can say this from a personal vantage point as my mother still holds a grudge against the owner, a family friend, of the establishment that my father was at last before he had his accident and received his DUI charges. Why? It was my father's own fault that he's in this mess, and now, if anything, my mother and I have to suffer because we're going to have to give him rides to and from work all the time since our suburb doesn't offer mass transit. Thankfully I start class downtown at the same time as he starts work on most weekday mornings (except for Fridays), so I can drop him off, but picking him up will just burden our family's budget more in terms of gas prices. I blame nobody but MY FATHER for the harm he's done to our family, not the owner of the restaurant. If he didn't want this to have occurred, then he should have done what I did and have taken a vow to be sober at age 21 (which I have since only broke once to try a glass of hard apple cider).
Were you talking on your cell phone when you ran a red light and were sideswiped by an SUV? No problem. Just sue the other guy. After all THEY should have expected you to run the red light and should have been in control of THEIR vehicle.
Were you pulling the dog's tail for five minutes before it finally turned around and bit you? No problem. Just kick the dog in the head and claim self-defense when animal cruelty charges are lodged against you. After all, it wasn't YOUR fault, right?
Were you trying to balance a cup of hot coffee from Starbuck's on your lap while driving when it spilled all over you and burned your thighs? No problem. Just sue the restaurant for serving hot drinks. After all, THEY should have known you were going to be negligent.
I'm so tired of these sorts of lawsuits creeping up everyday. That's why we have doctors fleeing our state out of fear of frivolous malpractice claims while our attorneys tool around in Jaguars. That's why we have financial planners and CPAs scared to death about making a financial recommendation that could backfire. That's why we have so many people unwilling to become involved in the lives of one another in today's society. People are just flat out scared of being sued!
I just thought I'd also add another vignette to how frivolous our society has become.
I began my employment with Lowe's in early-2005. I was in the break room when I heard some of my co-workers discussing an incident a few years prior when an employee was fired for trying to protect a customer.
An associate in the lawn and garden center saw a small unsupervised child playing in the fountains and then going near to some electrical equipment. He told the child not to do that because he could get hurt, but the child, with his wet hands, continued to reach for the electrical equipment. The associate went to grab the child's arm to prevent him from getting hurt, at which point the child's father came back and slugged the employee, knocking him out cold.
What were the end results? The employee was fired. The man was given a gift card for his "troubles." How sick is that? If the employee had done nothing and the boy had been electrocuted, I'm sure he would have been sued by the father for gross negligence. If the employee had intervened, as he did, he would have lost his job and ended up in the emergency room. I hate to say it, but after hearing that story I never got involved when I saw unsupervised children doing activities that might have seriously injured them. Why should I when I could be slugged across the face and fired, right? I simply decided that if a parent lost a child, it was their own fault for bringing them along into a store where they don't belong if they're not going to be watched by someone. It wasn't my job to be a baby-sitter anyways, and the $9/hr. I was making certainly didn't provide me with much motivation.
Why try to help someone when you're just going to end up "burned" in the end, as that poor associate was. If I were him I would have filed a lawsuit against the father for medical expenses and pain and suffering and the company for wrongful termination, but the archaic laws in this state protect employers by permitting them to hire their staff entirely "at-will."
The father was probably one of those typical "valley guys" that I had to contend with at work. The types who would treat me as if I were "beneath" them because I was only a teenager and then expect me to assist them. If he would permit his child to go unsupervised so he could look at something and then lash out against someone who was only trying to help, then that doesn't say very much about his intellect.
Like they say, there's no problem that alcohol can't make worse......
I hope the restaurant dodges this bullet for the sake of downtown activity and in terms of providing a decent environment for diners and responsible, reasonable drinking but it'll be a heads up for them be en garde by encouraging responsible patrons to the extent possible & sending the heavy hitters ("instant a**hole/ just add alcohol" types) to the low down joints where the cops can keep tabs on outbreaks....hopefully......
Like they say, there's no problem that alcohol can't make worse......
I hope the restaurant dodges this bullet for the sake of downtown activity and in terms of providing a decent environment for diners and responsible, reasonable drinking but it'll be a heads up for them be en garde by encouraging responsible patrons to the extent possible & sending the heavy hitters ("instant a**hole/ just add alcohol" types) to the low down joints where the cops can keep tabs on outbreaks....hopefully......
As someone who has dined at Bart & Urby's about a half-dozen times since it's been opened, I wholeheartedly agree. I suppose I care even more about this issue than I normally would for two personal reasons:
1.) The aforementioned situation in my family in which my father has put us into a precarious predicament due to his alochol consumption. His crash was a huge wake-up call for him, but if someone had been hurt in the vehicle he hit, I don't know if I'd ever be able to forgive him. It's not easy to watch your mother cry as she watches their bonuses and investments being eaten away by legal fees, ARD classes, etc. when she would have rather used them to have a nice vacation for their 30th wedding anniversary next year. As such I have become VERY militant against alcoholism, and I opt not to associate with former friends on my campus who binge drink for "fun." I've become somewhat of a social outcast amongst my peers because I won't "party it up," but so be it; I have plenty of friends twice my age who don't see the need to constantly have their judgments clouded by liquor. Why alcoholism is so supported around here is beyond my realm of comprehension; the mines closed decades ago so why does everyone have to head to the corner bars every evening after work to vent about their lives?
2.) I suppose I also took this as a personal attack against the very fragile renaissance occurring in Downtown Wilkes-Barre as of late. Bart & Urby's is a very bright spot on the city's urban renewal list, and if the $300,000 or so that has been levied against them by these frivolous lawsuits is awarded, I worry about what it will do to not only the future of this business, but also the future of that part of downtown. In the past several months Slainte, Club Mardi Gras, and Campus Billiards have all shuttered. While they are being replaced by Starbuck's, a Thai restaurant, a mining-oriented restaurant, La Toscana, and an upcoming crafts store, I seriously hope this doesn't put a nail in the coffin for a restaurant I've grown to love. That whole section of downtown was a bloody mess of prostitution, drugs, and muggings 5-10 years ago, and it would be a shame to see one man's quest to "get rich quick" successfully force that neighborhood one step backwards.
An associate in the lawn and garden center saw a small unsupervised child playing in the fountains and then going near to some electrical equipment. He told the child not to do that because he could get hurt, but the child, with his wet hands, continued to reach for the electrical equipment. The associate went to grab the child's arm to prevent him from getting hurt, at which point the child's father came back and slugged the employee, knocking him out cold.
As much as I think all parents need to pay attention to what their kids are doing, especially in public, the store WAS negligent in placing electrical equipment next to a water source. It is an accident waiting to happen, and could have just as easily been an adult victim. I'm surprised Lowe's would do something so stupid.
SWB: ^^^Oddly enough, militating against alcoholism probably won't get you anything but frustration and will usually create the opposite result. It's a tricky disease. Seek out others locally who have deep experience and not those who simply militate. You'll save yourself years of anguish from what I understand.....
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Since when is there a "good samaritan" law in Northeastern Pennsylvania where you're held liable or criminally-responsible if you don't wish to risk injury to yourself by stepping between two men in the middle of a fist-fight? Each party claims the other threw the first punch, but how can anyone know for sure unless someone witnessed the beginning of the fight? If the plaintiff indeed threw the first punch, then any injuries resulting from his actions are his OWN fault, as you can't sue somebody for a fight you started just because you were weaker and got the worst of it. 
As such I have become VERY militant against alcoholism, and I opt not to associate with former friends on my campus who binge drink for "fun." I've become somewhat of a social outcast amongst my peers because I won't "party it up," but so be it; I have plenty of friends twice my age who don't see the need to constantly have their judgments clouded by liquor. Why alcoholism is so supported around here is beyond my realm of comprehension; the mines closed decades ago so why does everyone have to head to the corner bars every evening after work to vent about their lives? 
