Plaintiff in premises liability case had no fighting chance.

Obtained a no-cause verdict in New Jersey in a general and premises liability case involving a fight that took place in a movie theater lobby. The plaintiff, who was 15 at the time of the incident, alleged he was an innocent bystander who got caught up in the melee defending himself. He was struck over the head with a liquor bottle, experienced seizures on the way to the hospital and underwent a craniotomy. He claimed PTSD and other persistent problems and sought damages from our client, a major movie theater/entertainment company, and the co-defendant security company. Key to the defense was the surveillance video and the deposition testimony of the fight's perpetrator and his brother, as well as a detective's interview with the plaintiff while he was still in the hospital. Following a 14-day trial, the jury found, by a 7 – 1 vote, that our client did not owe a duty to the plaintiff as an invitee (meaning the jury accepted evidence that the plaintiff was a participant in the fight rather than an innocent moviegoer/invitee). The plaintiff's pre-suit demand had been over $2 million.