Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Verbal abuse by an employee
What can I do if an employee of a restaurant came out of the business and verbaly abused my 14 Year old son with horrible language and damaged his friends property? The claim is my son and his friends were too loud and were asked to leave which they did. The owner chose not to call an officer. Instead the individual verbally abused my son and his friends. This happened when they left. The police were called but all they did was talk to the owner. That's not enough. We have a witness who saw it and he happens to be a former police officer. I want this individual to understand that this is unacceptable behavior and force him to take an anger management course. I don't want anything else. Can I do this with a lawyer?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Verbal abuse by an employee
The term "verbal abuse" is rather vague. Even if the man used inappropriate language or a harsh tone, it is very unlikely that what he said amounted to a crime. Much that is socially "unacceptable" is quite legal, and you can't have someone arrested just for being rude or overbearing. Damaging the other boy's property may have been a crime, but even if it was your son wasn't a victim.
Your best bet may be to complain to the owner of the restaurant. The manager may take an anger management class if his job depends upon it, but I doubt the courts will force him to do anything of the sort.
As always, my answer might be different if I knew more details about what happened.