A Superior Court jury in New Haven Thursday awarded $4.3 million to a Red Sox fan who was stabbed by a Yankees fan at the Chowder Pot restaurant near Exit 56 in Branford on Oct. 2, 2010. The men did not know each other but a baseball rivalry remark led to a “rage stabbing,” the victim’s attorney said.
The victim of the stabbing — Monte Freire, 45, of Nashua, N.H. — was stabbed through the neck and suffered life-altering injuries, including a serious and permanent brain injury. He sued the restaurant for negligence.
Click here to read an earlier story on the attack.
Attorney Timothy P. Pothin of Stratton Faxon Trial Lawyers represented Freire at the trial in New Haven Superior Court, which Freire attended.
According to testimony at the trial, a bartender was warned twice by one of Freire’s friends that the attacker, John Mayor, was harassing customers, acting belligerently, provoking fights and becoming “increasingly agitated, but no one spoke to Mayor or intervened,” Pothin said in an interview Thursday. “The bartender did nothing,” he said and that is why the jury found negligence on the part of the restaurant.
Mayor is currently serving a prison term in connection with the assault.
The encounter between the two men began when Mayor told Freire, “This is Yankee territory and you are not welcome here,” Pothin said. From that remark came “obnoxious comments” and the situation escalated. Freire asked a bartender for help.
That bartender, a woman, testified at the trial. She did not want to handle the situation herself, she said, so she brought the problem to the attention of a male bartender. He talked to both men, but continued to ignore the escalating situation. In fact, said Pothin, the male bartender was outside having a cigarette when the stabbing occurred.
According to testimony, Mayor was drinking alcohol at the Chowder Pot and was harassing customers. The bartender, Pothin said, continued to serve him alcohol even though he was unruly.
It is not known how much liquor Mayor consumed while sitting at the bar. At the time, police said that at about 10:42 p.m. the two men got into an argument after Freire went to the bar to get a beer. Freire was having dinner at the time with friends at a nearby table.
After the attack, Freire sued the restaurant. Following a two-week trial, the jury held the Chowder Pot responsible for negligence when employees failed to intervene after Mayor began to fight.
Pothin said this case was “forced to trial.” The insurance company representing the Chowder Pot “adopted an untenable position. They offered no money by way of settlement and forced this case to trial. This was obvious malfeasance by Chowder Pot employees.”
Pothin commended Superior Court Judge Robert Young and the jury. “We had an attentive jury and we are grateful that they held the Chowder Pot accountable for the egregious negligence of their employees. It is a fair just compensation.”
The attorney for the Chowder Pot could not immediately be reached for comment but he is expected to appeal.
###
May be wrong, but Chowder Pot does not seem large enough to carry that much insurance or have that money to pay off and still survive.
While they should bear some responsibility for this mess, the award seems really excessive to me'
Would appreciate update re appeal