Chain not negligent in mug-bashing incident
A Washington County jury found a local chain restaurant wasn’t responsible for injuries a patron sustained when a 21-year-old oil and gas worker drunkenly staggered up behind him and allegedly smashed a beer mug on his head while he was seated at the bar.
Jurors rendered the verdict Wednesday following a three-day trial in a lawsuit accusing Fridays restaurant in South Strabane Township of negligence and violating state liquor law.
“I’m grateful (jurors) listened to all the evidence and took it into account,” said attorney Scott Redman, who represented Texas-based TGI Friday’s Inc. and other entities that own or operate the restaurant.
Undisputed in the civil case was Justin Franklin, now 27, of Coalgate, Okla., allegedly attacked Jason Demeter, 48, of Marianna, the night of June 19, 2010.
According to testimony and court documents, Demeter, a corrections officer, went to the restaurant, then called TGI Friday’s, after his shift at Washington County jail ended at 10 p.m. Within about five to 10 minutes, Franklin, without warning, swung the empty mug down on Demeter’s head hard enough to shatter the thick glass.
Franklin then fled the restaurant with two of Demeter’s coworkers and another customer in pursuit. They caught him behind the Target store across the parking lot and held him down until police arrived to arrest him.
A blood test put Franklin’s blood alcohol content at .32 percent – four times the legal limit to drive a car. Police charged him with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and public drunkenness.
Noah Geary, Demeter’s attorney, failed to take appropriate steps to protect Demeter. He also accused the restaurant of serving Franklin while he was visibly intoxicated.
Redman maintained Franklin, who was not a defendant in the civil case, was the only party responsible for Demeter’s injuries.
Tamara Dobbin, 50, of Washington, was one of two dissenters on the 12-member jury and said she would have awarded Demeter compensation if enough jurors had sided with her.
The former bartender was convinced Franklin would have shown outward signs of being intoxicated: “What I’m saying is there’s no way you could not have seen that.”
Geary said Franklin – had arrived at the restaurant more than an hour before Demeter and his coworkers – and was trying to initiate a fight.
Franklin drank at least three beers there, Geary said.
He argued circumstantial evidence suggested Franklin would have shown outward signs of intoxication while he was drinking at the restaurant.
Frederick Fochtman, a toxicologist and associate professor of pharmacology at Duquesne University, testified during the trial that evidence suggested Franklin’s BAC would have been .2 to .24 percent when he arrived at the restaurant.
“Folks, he was visibly intoxicated,” Geary said.
Redman said employees had been properly trained to recognize signs of intoxication and cut off Franklin when they saw he was drunk.
“You have not heard one witness that Mr. Franklin was served while visibly intoxicated,” Redman told jurors.
He said staff had successfully calmed Franklin down before he attacked Demeter “out of the blue.”
Demeter suffered post-concussion syndrome following the attack.
He appeared in court with a short haircut that showed scars from the broken glass on his scalp.
Results of hearing tests taken before and after the attack suggest he’s permanently lost 15 percent of his hearing in his left ear and 30 percent in the right.
Geary told jurors Demeter;s injuries warranted a “substantial and significant amount of money.”
Franklin, who was not a defendant in the lawsuit, failed to appear in October 2010 when he was scheduled to enter a plea in the criminal case. Then-judge Paul Pozonsky issued a bench warrant against him. Records show he hasn’t appeared in Washington County court since.