Boston Red Sox fan Monte Freire and his friends were eating at a Connecticut restaurant in 2010 when another patron — a drunk, angry New York Yankees fan — stabbed him in the neck.
The Yankees fan, John Mayor (not to be confused with John Mayer), had deduced by Freire's accent that he was a Boston Red Sox fan and told him he wasn't welcome at the restaurant, U.S.S. Chowder Pot III.
In this tale of fandom gone wrong, a jury on Thursday awarded Freire a settlement of $4.3 million against the restaurant. Freire's legal team claimed the Chowder Pot ignored warnings about the dangerous fan. Mayor, it's worth noting, has already been convicted of assault and is in prison for 10 years.
From the Associated Press:
''We're grateful that the jury was very attentive. They understood our case and held the Chowder Pot responsible for its employees' negligence,'' said attorney Timothy Pothin, representing Freire. ''Perhaps this will provide a lesson to other bars and nightclubs in our community and their insurance carriers who continue to maintain untenable positions in cases of clear negligence.''
Freire, 45, suffered life-altering injuries, including a brain injury, a stroke, impaired speech and vision and severe scarring, Pothin said.
The restaurant says it plans to appeal the ruling.
The parallel many people reading this may draw is to the Bryan Stow case, a violent turn in another of baseball's most bitter rivalries. Two men at a Dodgers game in 2011 severely beat Stow, a Giants fan, in the parking lot. The main difference in the two cases is the restaurant ignoring warnings about Mayor's behavior. The Stow family is suing the Dodgers, but it will need to prove a similar act of negligence to get a ruling in its favor.
BLS H/N: Hardball Talk
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