Page 6 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame: Premises Liability

#1
PREMISES LIABILITY
VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS
HALL OF FAME
Case: Myika Darbeau v. 136 West ird Street, LLC, and Rayon McIntosh Attorney: Daniel A. omas
Firm: e Law O ce of Allan H. Greenberg, New York, NY
Date: 5/26/2014
Verdict: $38,000,000
Burger- ipper beat down the lady brawler who jumped across the counter. She sued for head injuries.
On October 12, 2011, 24-year-old Myika Darbeau, a nursing home aid, was a customer at a McDonalds Restaurant on West 3rd Street in Manhattan, NY, when she and another woman, Rachel Edwards, were involved in an altercation with a cashier at the restaurant. Darbeau was lmed by a cell phone camera jumping over the counter of the restaurant, and pursuing a physical encounter with the employee, defendant Rayon McIntosh. McIntosh retrieved a metal rod and knocked both of the women to the ground, and repeatedly struck them as they lay on the oor. Darbeau claimed injuries to her skull and brain, as well as neurological
injuries resulting from the ght.
is shown ghting back, striking the plaintiff in the face with a slap. The defendant walked into the back of the restaurant as Darbeau climbed over the counter, and Edwards went around it in an effort to confront the defendant. McIntosh returned to the counter area with a metal rod in his hand, and struck both women, disabling them, and causing them to fall to the ground. McIntosh struck the two multiple times as they lay on the oor before stopping. Darbeau and Edwards were charged with trespassing, McIntosh was not charged.
Darbeau sued the owner of the
privately franchised fast-food res-
taurant, defendant 136 West 3rd
Street, LLC, for negligent hiring
and retention of an employee,
failure to provide security and a
safe environment for customers,
and gross wanton and reckless
lack of care by not informing cus-
tomers that their employee had a
propensity for violence. Darbeau
claimed that because the restau-
rant’s management company had hired and employed McIntosh, who previously spent 11 years in prison for manslaughter, the defendant was negligent in its hiring and retention of employees. She further claimed that McIntosh used excessive, unnecessary and unlawful force, attacking her and causing her injuries. The defendant never answered the court summons, and a default liability trial was ruled by Judge Lucindo Suarez. The trial proceeded with a damages inquest.
Cell phone video footage showed the two female subjects, includ- ing the plaintiff, in a heated argument with McIntosh. Darbeau was intoxicated at the time of the incident, according to plaintiff’s counsel, and took a swing at the defendant’s face and missed. The defendant
4 September 2016
DARBEAU CLAIMED TO HAVE SUFFERED HEAD TRAUMA, INCLUDING A SKULL FRACTURE, AN INTRACEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE, DAMAGE TO BRAIN TISSUE, A PUNCTURE TO THE RIGHT SHOUL- DER, AND NEUROLOGICAL DEFICITS INCLUDING MEMORY LOSS AND HEADACHES.
Darbeau was brought by ambulance to Beth Israel Hospi- tal in Manhattan, NY, where she remained for six days. Darbeau claimed to have suffered head trauma, including a skull fracture, an intracerebral hemorrhage, dam- age to brain tissue, a puncture to the right shoulder, and neurologi- cal de cits including memory loss and headaches. Darbeau under- went surgery to repair her skull including a craniotomy to repair the hemorrhage, an evacuation of hematoma and the removal
of bone fragments. She also underwent a duraplasty and a local special duroplasty graft application (skin graft). Darbeau claimed two months of lost time at work. She also claimed permanent neu- rological injuries including confusion, vision problems, amnesia, and headaches. Plaintiff’s expert neurologist testi ed that Darbeau had sustained permanent brain damage.
Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award the plaintiff $7 million in compensatory damages, and $21 Million in punitive damages. The defendant did not appear for damages arguments. The jury ruled unanimously in favor of the plaintiff, and awarded her $13 million in compensatory damages, and $25 million in punitive damages.