Woman sues restaurant $100K for poor service

[madoka]

I was recently forced to take my order to go because most of the seats were taken by Mongols. I was so devastated that I whined about it on ATOT. Inspired by this woman, I think I should sue that Mexican restaurant for 1,000 tacos.

http://pdx.eater.com/2015/3/3/8145259/woman-sues-restaurant-for-ruining-her-valentines-day

If only we could all get $100,000 for a date night gone awry. The Oregonian reports that a women who dined alone on Valentine's Day has filed a $100,000 lawsuit against Enzo's Caffe Italiano on Northeast Alberta for rude service.

The article says Kathleen Hampton, who is representing herself, had made a reservation for two but her husband "was still full from lunch and decided not to go." Hampton went anyway, and claims she was forced to wait while couples who arrived after her were seated first. And once she did get a table she says she was ignored. According to the article, "She then told a waitress she was ready to order, but the waitress replied that she would not be taking her order and that Hampton had to leave the restaurant and give up the table."

Hampton apparently doesn't give up easily, and says in the lawsuit that she asked to order a meal to go, but the restaurant said they didn't offer take-out. "That was the final straw," Hampton writes in the lawsuit. "I've never heard of a food place not having to-go."

The restaurant owner, Enzo Lanzadoro, seems perplexed by the allegations, telling The Oregonian: "She made reservation for two and when she got there, said 'oh just by myself.' We offered for her to sit at the bar with other single diners since Valentine's Day is very busy, and all we know is she got up [from the table] and left without paying after she drank two glasses of wine."

In the lawsuit Hampton says she was so "devastated she cried for a day," and is also demanding a public apology in local media "to make sure all business owners on N.E. Alberta know we are serious about our community."

 

[Ns1]

this is the lawsuit

http://media.oregonlive.com/ent_impact_dining/other/DocumentFragment_18611546.tif

:awe:

sounds like trident's demand letter.

 

[waggy]

lol i hope this is thrown out. but sadly odds are its going to waste a lot of money on both sides.

 

[Ns1]

lol i hope this is thrown out. but sadly odds are its going to waste a lot of money on both sides.

she's representing herself

 

[Kaido]

It was kind of dumb of them to not honor her reservation, but from their perspective, they lost half of their potential income from cutting the number of diners in half, especially since it was on Valentine's Day when people tend to spend more on food & drinks.

And also yay America for ridiculous lawsuits

 

[waffleironhead]

That filing...

Residence?

Residence?

Residence?

Made my night.

 

[jlee]

They should criminally charge her for theft of the wine.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

It was kind of dumb of them to not honor her reservation, but from their perspective, they lost half of their potential income from cutting the number of diners in half, especially since it was on Valentine's Day when people tend to spend more on food & drinks.

It's not unusual for a restaurant to refuse to seat a party that is less than full. And it's also not usual for a restaurant to cancel a reservation for a group that books 6 and shows up with only 2 or 3 people. It depends on how busy they are, most can't or won't turn away paying customers and will make every effort to keep the business, but on a packed night like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day they can fill empty tables easily and won't hesitate to kick out somebody who doesn't show up with a full party. The woman has no case, she broke the contract first by reserving a table for two and showing up with one. And they are under no obligation to give her a meal to go. Of course she's representing herself, not even the slimiest bottom-feeding lawyer would take such a stupid case

 

[mcurphy]

this is the lawsuit

http://media.oregonlive.com/ent_impact_dining/other/DocumentFragment_18611546.tif

:awe:

sounds like trident's demand letter.

Ugh, is English not her native language, or is she just some ignorant bitch?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

she's representing herself

To paraphrase:

She who represents herself has a fool for a client.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that's retarded. They really need to change the laws so you can't sue for literally anything.

I still say lawsuits should work like a casino game. The amount you sue for is like a bet. If you lose, YOU have to pay that amount to the person you tried to sue, AND legal charges on top of that. There needs to be a risk factor associated with lawsuits.

At the very least, the person that files the suit should have to pay legal charges for the victim if they(person that filed) lose.

 

[SOFTengCOMPelec]

Given that she wants $100K for 1 days crying.
Let's assume she loses the court case.

Can she now sue the court for $700K, if she cries for a week, after losing the court case ?

Also, I was so moved by her terribly sad story, I cried for 6 hours. She now owes me $25K.

 

[madoka]

You jerks need to cut her some slack. She's juggling a lot in her life:

"Being a small minority business owner as well my husband. . ."

Sounds like that lady is both a small minority business owner and her own husband! So she stood herself up on Valentines?!?!?! I'd cry too if that happened.

 

[venkman]

100K Lawsuit is crazy, but why in the world would the restaurant seat her and then refuse to serve her and then ask her to leave. That is fairly rude.

 

[LegendKiller]

Sounds like my sister.

My wife arranged for my whole family to go to a nice steak restaurant for my 30th birthday. Total bill came to ~600 for 8 people (not much drinking, a few didn't have steak). Food was great, service was awesome. They gave us 3 free birthday deserts (mine, my wife and brother who also had birthdays in the same month) and a drink. After that my bitch of a sister dared call the restaurant and claim we had horrible service and bad food. They gave her a $450 gift card for "her troubles". I found out, called her up, and then called her every nasty name in the book. After that I called the manager, told him she was lying, that he should absolutely not come down on the employee(s) and he should cancel the gift card. He did and I told her about it. She wasn't happy, too fucking bad.

 

[WelshBloke]

Hampton writes in the lawsuit. "I've never heard of a food place not having to-go."

 

[sportage]

It was kind of dumb of them to not honor her reservation, but from their perspective, they lost half of their potential income from cutting the number of diners in half, especially since it was on Valentine's Day when people tend to spend more on food & drinks.

And also yay America for ridiculous lawsuits

This lawsuit might well seem silly, and most likely is, but many assumed frivolous lawsuits have merit.
The most famous so called frivolous suit was the Mcdonalds hot coffee lawsuit.
Has anyone actually seen the burns that the hot coffee lady suffered?
Or realize McDonalds had their coffee maker set at the same temp as water in your car radiator after driven 30 miles?



Now, if that happened to your mom, wouldn't you sue?
You damn well know you would sue.
And the lady was not driving, she was a passenger in a parked the car.
With the lady simply trying to open the coffee cup lid to add cream and sugar.

McDonalds had many other complaints of the extreme high temperatures of their coffee, but did nothing. Scalding hot coffee was the policy.
Her lawsuit well justified.
And her final award was not in the millions as often rumored, but around 600 thousand dollars.
Which going by the burns she suffered, and the fact she almost died while recovering, 600 thousand seems fair.

Many so called frivolous lawsuits are far from frivolous, especially when you are the victim.

 

[WelshBloke]

This lawsuit might well seem silly, and most likely is, but many assumed frivolous lawsuits have merit.
The most famous so called frivolous suit was the Mcdonalds hot coffee lawsuit.
Has anyone actually seen the burns that the hot coffee lady suffered?

Just because something that you do has horrible consequences doesn't mean that it's someone else's fault.

 

[Red Squirrel]

This lawsuit might well seem silly, and most likely is, but many assumed frivolous lawsuits have merit.
The most famous so called frivolous suit was the Mcdonalds hot coffee lawsuit.
Has anyone actually seen the burns that the hot coffee lady suffered?
Or realize McDonalds had their coffee maker set at the same temp as water in your car radiator after driven 30 miles?



Now, if that happened to your mom, wouldn't you sue?
You damn well know you would sue.
And the lady was not driving, she was a passenger in a parked the car.
With the lady simply trying to open the coffee cup lid to add cream and sugar.

McDonalds had many other complaints of the extreme high temperatures of their coffee, but did nothing. Scalding hot coffee was the policy.
Her lawsuit well justified.
And her final award was not in the millions as often rumored, but around 600 thousand dollars.
Which going by the burns she suffered, and the fact she almost died while recovering, 600 thousand seems fair.

Many so called frivolous lawsuits are far from frivolous, especially when you are the victim.

Still frivolous imo. she's the one that dropped the cup. Shit happens. McDonald's should not get the blame for that. They make it very hot because if you're at the drive thru it's assumed you are driving somewhere, so by the time you get there, sit down, and have your coffee it will have cooled off but still be hot enough. Tim Hortons makes their coffee very hot too, I would hate to drop it on myself in the car, but if I did, it's not their fault if I get burned.

 

[Brainonska511]

Just because something that you do has horrible consequences doesn't mean that it's someone else's fault.

And the jury in that case did assign partial blame to the plaintiff, and reduced her award accordingly. However, it was shown that McDonald's was negligent - there were other, documented complaints of people being burned by their coffee, and McDonald's paying out for it, and that there coffee was served at temperatures that could cause third degree burns in seconds. This woman originally wanted only a few thousand for her medical expenses and McDonald's told her to pound sand, so she sued.

 

[Ns1]

100K Lawsuit is crazy, but why in the world would the restaurant seat her and then refuse to serve her and then ask her to leave. That is fairly rude.

That's her side of the story

 

[SOFTengCOMPelec]

Now, if that happened to your mom, wouldn't you sue?
You damn well know you would sue.

No.

Not if the company involved, was NOT responsible or at fault over the incident/accident. Coffee can be very hot, that is the nature of normal coffee. Or are you expecting it to have lots of ice cubes in it ?

E.g. A mother buys matches, and clumsily burns herself, while messing with the lighted matches.
It was the mothers responsibility to take care, with potentially dangerously hot matches (or scalding hot coffee), NOT the original sellers.

Analogy/Example:
Or are you trying to say that car manufacturer's are responsible for ALL road accidents ?

 

[Brainonska511]

Still frivolous imo. she's the one that dropped the cup. Shit happens. McDonald's should not get the blame for that. They make it very hot because if you're at the drive thru it's assumed you are driving somewhere, so by the time you get there, sit down, and have your coffee it will have cooled off but still be hot enough. Tim Hortons makes their coffee very hot too, I would hate to drop it on myself in the car, but if I did, it's not their fault if I get burned.

Most places don't serve their coffee at temperatures that cause 3rd degree burns in seconds. Most places also don't have a track record of getting complaints over their coffee being so hot it caused severe burns and then subsequently paying out money in compensation.

No.

Not if the company involved, was NOT responsible or at fault over the incident/accident. Coffee can be very hot, that is the nature of normal coffee. or are you expecting it to have lots of ice cubes in it ?

E.g. A mother buys matches, and clumsily burns herself, while messing with the lighted matches.
It was the mothers responsibility to take care, with potentially dangerously hot matches (or scalding hot coffee), NOT the original sellers.

Analogy/Example:
Or are you trying to say that car manufacturer's are responsible for ALL road accidents ?

Your kitchen coffee is not nearly as hot as what McDonald's was serving their coffee at. Why would you expect your coffee to be **scalding** hot?

 

[jlee]

This lawsuit might well seem silly, and most likely is, but many assumed frivolous lawsuits have merit.
The most famous so called frivolous suit was the Mcdonalds hot coffee lawsuit.
Has anyone actually seen the burns that the hot coffee lady suffered?
Or realize McDonalds had their coffee maker set at the same temp as water in your car radiator after driven 30 miles?



Now, if that happened to your mom, wouldn't you sue?
You damn well know you would sue.
And the lady was not driving, she was a passenger in a parked the car.
With the lady simply trying to open the coffee cup lid to add cream and sugar.

McDonalds had many other complaints of the extreme high temperatures of their coffee, but did nothing. Scalding hot coffee was the policy.
Her lawsuit well justified.
And her final award was not in the millions as often rumored, but around 600 thousand dollars.
Which going by the burns she suffered, and the fact she almost died while recovering, 600 thousand seems fair.

Many so called frivolous lawsuits are far from frivolous, especially when you are the victim.

If I make tea at home, it's generally with boiling water. That's hotter than water in your radiator.

Could I spill it on myself and then sue myself? :awe:

 

[WelshBloke]

And the jury in that case did assign partial blame to the plaintiff, and reduced her award accordingly. However, it was shown that McDonald's was negligent - there were other, documented complaints of people being burned by their coffee, and McDonald's paying out for it, and that there coffee was served at temperatures that could cause third degree burns in seconds. This woman originally wanted only a few thousand for her medical expenses and McDonald's told her to pound sand, so she sued.

It's coffee. Its served hot.

Buying a hot drink, holding it between your thighs and wrestling with the lid?

Anything that happens after that is purely your fault.