A Florida jury awarded plaintiff, David Milian just over $1 million Thursday afternoon in his suit against Miami nightspot Nikki Beach Club. Specifically, the jury awarded $150,000 for loss of earnings, $100,000 for hospital and medical bills from the past and into the future, and $800,000 for pain suffering and mental anguish.
On August 3, 2008 Milian visited Nikki Beach Club with his girlfriend. Near the club’s bathrooms Milian exchanged words with Guido Trinidad and their interactions escalated into a physical altercation. Trinidad hit Milian in the face with a bar glass, creating serious injury and severing the nerves on the right side of his face. Milian brought suit against Nikki Beach Club for pain, suffering, his resulting disability and medical bills of approximately $50,000.
Plaintiff’s attorney, Philip Gerson, stated that a nightclub is required to keep its property reasonably safe by providing adequate security. In his opening statement he alleged that the fight was “both foreseeable and preventable by the nightclub. There was a needless danger. They knew fights, including attacks with glasses, had happened before. They could have prevented the crime but didn’t.”
Mitchel Chusid, of Ritter, Chusid, Bizona & Cohen, represented the defendant night club. Chusid asserted that while the plaintiff did receive injuries on defendant’s property, Nikki Beach Club took the proper precautions to make the nightspot safe. He further stated that the incident happened very quickly while Trinidad was enraged and that club security responded quickly.
Today, while asking for damages between 1 and 2 million dollars, Gerson told the jury, “You are like cashiers at a supermarket. You just add up the items. The amount can be large or the amount can be small. It is whatever comes to you, and you should not be embarrassed if the amount that comes to you in total in this case is large.”
CVN webcast the Milian v. Nikki Beach Club trial live, gavel-to-gavel.
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