What A Strip Club Can Teach Us About Premises Liability
All businesses, strip clubs included, must safely use and maintain their premises.
California requires strip clubs, and more boring businesses like grocery stores, big box stores, and other establishments to take certain steps to protect their guests. To illustrate the legal principle of “premises liability,” we’ll take a closer look at how one strip club was negligent in the use and maintenance of their facility, causing an unsuspecting customer some very serious physical and emotional injuries.
While we have to keep some details confidential, continue to reading to find out exactly where the strip club went wrong.
Businesses can't sacrifice safety to maximize profits.
Let’s get right to it. Strip clubs, like any other club, will often run promotions to generate buzz and get people in the door (or so we hear). Unbeknownst to one strip club attendee, let’s call him “John,” the night he came in just happened to be arm-wrestling night. That meant an employee of the strip club would pick two guests to arm-wrestle for the entertainment of the strip club patrons, and of course, John was one of the participants picked.
Here’s the thing, John didn’t want to have any part of this arm-wrestling contest. He came to the strip club for, *ahem*, obvious reasons. But after some ridicule and antagonizing, the strip club employee coerced John into participating.
For those of you who don’t know, arm-wrestling is actually incredibly dangerous. It’s very common for an inexperienced arm-wrestler to break their arm if proper precautions aren’t taken such as a stable table at proper height, a referee, and much more. Well, as you guessed it, the strip club didn’t take these necessary precautions and John’s arm was broken. Not exactly what he hand in mind when the night started.
How we held the strip club accountable.
We conducted research on the proper ways to host an arm-wrestling contest. It turns out there is an arm-wrestling federation with very specific safety rules, none of which were followed on this unfortunate night. We showed that had these procedures been followed, John’s injury would have never happened.
Rather than face a jury of the their peers, the strip club chose to settle John’s case outside of court for a sizable sum. While John would have preferred to have avoided this whole situation, he was happy with the compensation we recovered for him and moved on with his life. No one knows if John has attended a strip club since.
Grocery stores are the most common site of premises liability cases.
So we know strip clubs and grocery stores have little-to-nothing in common, but neither is immune from premises liability cases. Grocery stores are the most common defendants in premises liability cases that result in injuries from a slip and fall.
How many times have we seen a spill on aisle 4 while grabbing some pasta sauce. If you’re the unfortunate soul that happens to slip and fall on the spill, you likely have a premises liability case against the grocer. They have a duty to sweep the store at regular intervals, looking for these exact types of hazards.
Our experienced premises liability attorneys offer free consultations.
Whether you were injured at a strip club, grocery store, restaurant or other facility, give us a ring for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your rights. We’ve seen it all.
