Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts

Re: Negligence of Assault

It sounds like your husband has a strong case against the individual who assaulted him (if you know who that person is), but I am not so sure that your husband has a strong case against the nightclub. You say that the bouncers allowed the assaulting party to leave the bar and did not report the incident to the police, but you do not say in your narrative whether they willfully alloweded the assault to occur in the first place. Is this what happened, or did the bouncers happen upon the assault after it happened? Were any bar personnel in a position to prevent the actual attack or lessen its impact? Do you have any evidence that the bartender may have served alcohol to the assaulter after he was already intoxicated? Did the assaulter have a track record of assaultive behavior at that bar? I think you have to establish that the bar was in a position to stop the fight before it happened, and that it failed in its duty to do that. Otherwise, I think you are left with trying to collect directly from the person who assaulted your husband. (Both the criminal process and the civil process would be options in that regard, but of course you have to be able to identify the perpetrator and locate him.)

Re: Negligence of Assault

Your husband has a case against the establishment for breach of its duty to maintan a safe environment and against the perpetrator, if he can be identified, (which would be in the establishment's interest as well) for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon,(which is also a criminal violation). Both of you should be keeping a diary of all consequences both of you suffer as you also have a case for loss of consortium. Neither of you should talk to anyone until you retain an attorney, who would be required to take the case on a contingent fee basis whereby no fee is due unless you win.

Re: Negligence of Assault

The nightclub owner has a duty to maintain a safe environment and obviously failed in that duty; of course, he is now worried about the ramifications. I believe that your husband may have a solid cause of action provided certain facts can be established at the time of trial. The strip club will be represented by counsel provided by their insurer, so it is important that your husband consider this before speaking with anyone; his statements to insurance adjusters may be taken out of context,or simply ignored in order to justify themselves.

Feel free to e-mail me with any follow on questions you may have.