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Family sues over death by glass shard at Lansdowne bar
By adamg on Wed, 06/27/2012 - 3:15pm
The family of a man who died from the aftermath of a fight he had nothing to do with at the Lansdowne Pub is suing the bar for $4 million.
Michael DiMaria, 23, was visiting from New York with some friends when they went to the bar in August, 2010. On their way out, Hector Guardiola of South Boston and a member of DiMaria's party bumped, which led to an argument, which led to Guardiola throwing a glass mug at the back of the man's head. It missed him, hit another man in the head, then shattered, sending a large glass shard into DiMaria's neck, severing his jugular vein and causing his death.
In the suit, DiMaria's parents charge the bar was "grossly negligent" and failed to provide the sort of security that would have prevented their son from dying.
Guardiola pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter last fall and was sentenced to four to seven years in state prison.
DiMaria's parents originally filed its suit in Suffolk District Court earlier this month, but the bar yesterday petitioned to have the suit transferred to federal court because the DiMarias live in another state.
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Comments
"DiMaria's parents charge the
"DiMaria's parents charge the bar was "grossly negligent" and failed to provide the sort of security that would have prevented their son from dying."
What kind of security would have prevented this fight? Racial profiling? Age discrimination? Gender discrimination? All of that is not legal, too.
Sue the jerk who threw the glass. It's his fault. The bar cannot be 100% in control of 100% of the actions of persons in the bar. They can try, they can boot people with impunity, but they can't do that until the person shows signs of misbehavior. And in this case, that sign was throwing a glass.
Drinking in Crowded Bars
If you don't want to risk being around drinking people doing stupid macho things, don't go into a crowded bar full of young people who are drinking - or any large crowded space full of rowdy people who are drinking for that matter.
Sure, security is important at keeping fights and drunken nonsense to a minimum - but, exactly how could this have been prevented? Sippy cups? Stupidity-sensing wristbands?
Solo cups
Red plastic cups instead of glass mugs - just like the licensing board made Packy Connors in Roxbury use.
Freak Incident
You can cut yourself pretty damn badly on a solo cup, too. The point is that somebody will bump into somebody, get puffy nuts, pick a fight, and somebody will get hurt no matter what type of cup is available.
I think it is pretty absurd too but......
come on Swirly, you have to admit thats a bad one right there.
Seriously!
I've cut myself pretty seriously on a broken solo cup before ... of course, alcohol was involved, but still ... nastier than a serrated plastic knife!
My niece works in an ER, and she has some interesting stories about solo cup lacerations, too.
Aside from that, however, if the bar had used solo cups, the jerk probably would have thrown a piece of furniture or a plate ...
Maybe not a solo cup
But Lansdowne does sell 16oz cans of cheapo Narragansett and gives you the can. You can make a nice shiv out of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haEyId7jHss
Feel bad for the folks who lost a son, but I gotta agree this is some BS. Act of God is enshrined in court for a reason, and no reasonable person would expect a patron to throw a glass cup at someone else like this. Hopefully the suit is dismissed quickly.
(cause I'll be damned if I'm drinking a Guinness out of a plastic cup)
If you don't want to be sued
If you don't want to be sued for drunken people doing stupid harm-causing things in your place of business then don't operate a bar for a living.
I don't think that "die in
I don't think that "die in the middle of a fight" is a reasonable expected consequence of going to a bar. I certainly don't assume that's a possibility when I go out and I think it's unreasonable to suggest that the victim should have any culpability here. However, a bar does accept that there may be a liability involved in serving alcohol to people who end up out of control - as part of being licensed to serve liquor there is an expectation of liability that has been consistently held up in courts including for the death of patrons and others in alcohol-related incidents involving other patrons (specific example is the liability related to drunk driving incidents after a patron leaves an establishment). I've seen bars cited by the city for incidents where the only victims of a patron's violence are bar staff - this is consistent with the law and in line with the expectations that go along with a liquor license. Is it reasonable to expect that a bar can stop all incidents? probably not, but that is the expectation.
If this had been an ordinary bar fight
thenfight then I'd agree completely--say if there had been a big melee that the bar staff had been unable or unwilling to stop or call in authorities. But this is the very definition of a freak accident, albeit one caused by misbehavior (the guy who threw the glass). What, aside from not having glassware at all, or requiring all
Arron's to wear body armor or at least turtlenecks, could the bar have done to prevent this incident, which almost certainly went down in a matter of seconds?
The jerk that threw the glass
Doesn't have an insurance policy to cover the $4 million damages request, but the bar might.
I feel bad for "the jerk who
I feel bad for "the jerk who threw the glass". There goes 4-7 years of his life. And he's going to have a rough time finding employment after that.
Sad story all around, lots of
Sad story all around, lots of lives ruined over fuckheadedness.
The bar has insurance to cover such things, the kid who threw the mug was a blue collar worker.