Assault and Battery (including Elder Abuse)

Bus operator throws an abusive patron off her bus, sits on top of the elderly patron on the adjacent sidewalk, and assaults him breaking his wrist. A lawsuit for elder abuse and assault and battery is filed and goes to trial.

A patron at a Mexican Restaurant/Cantina gets drunk and is abusive to customers. When he is asked to leave by the bartender, he becomes more belligerent. The restaurant’s private security company provides trained bouncers. The bouncer escorts the patron to the front door to leave. When the patron refuses, a scuffle ensues with the patron sustaining injuries. The private security company subsequently went out of business. A lawsuit is filed and goes to trial against the restaurant on the theory that the bouncer is an agent of the restaurant.

Two young adult males attack an elderly gentleman in an unsecure outdoor parking lot of a common carrier, pull him out of his car, and assault him. The man is injured, his personal possessions are taken, and his car is stolen. The common carrier is sued, and the case settled.

On numerous separate occasions bus patrons are assaulted on board common carriers. In order to establish liability on a common carrier, these cases involve questions of how much advance notice and what type of notice must the bus carrier and/or bus operator have with respect to the incident about “to be committed” by the third-party assailant, and to what extent can the harm be prevented.