The parent company of St. Elmo Steak House responded to a lawsuit alleging that its flagship restaurant overserved Mark Sanchez just before the events leading to the former NFL quarterback’s arrest for battery.
On Oct. 4, 69-year-old Perry Tole was working the late shift for a cooking oil recycling company when an inebriated Sanchez confronted him near a downtown Indianapolis hotel’s loading dock. Surveillance video from a neighboring hotel showed Sanchez grabbing and throwing Tole into an alleyway, who pepper-sprayed and then stabbed Sanchez to fend off the attack, according to court documents.
Tole filed a lawsuit against Sanchez and his then-employer, FOX Corporation, two days after the attack. He filed an amended complaint on Nov. 21, alleging Sanchez was overserved alcohol while at a Huse Culinary establishment on the night of the attack.
Under Indiana law, alcohol vendors can be held liable if they serve a visibly intoxicated person who then goes on to cause harm. Though investigators have not disclosed how much, if any, alcohol was in Sanchez’s system at the time of his attack, he faces a misdemeanor count of public intoxication.
Tole’s lawsuit didn’t name a specific business owned by the group, but in a Dec. 3 response, Huse Culinary lawyers indicated that St. Elmo was the restaurant at issue.
“The proper owner and operator of St. Elmo’s Restaurant is St. Elmo Incorporated,” the filing read.
Though the filing acknowledged the restaurant sold alcohol, it “denies that it sold[,] furnished or served alcoholic beverages to individuals including Sanchez, who were visibly intoxicated or otherwise impaired.” The business didn’t know that Sanchez was intoxicated and “had no justifiable or reasonable reason to refuse service to him.”
The restaurant group’s attorneys cite a multitude of reasons that Huse Culinary should not pay damages: among them, that Tole’s “own negligence caused or contributed to the alleged accident and damages” at the center of the lawsuit.
Sanchez’s actions after leaving the restaurant were “unforeseeable” and Huse Culinary “cannot be held responsible for actions beyond its control,” lawyers wrote.
Thomas Kimbrough, the attorney representing Huse Culinary, was not available for comment at the time of publication.
Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: St. Elmo files response to Mark Sanchez lawsuit, denies overserving drinks
Reporting by Ryan Murphy, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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