Philly man injured while waiting for autograph sues Indianapolis Colts and city hotel

A Philadelphia man who claims he became injured last winter while waiting to obtain an autograph from a professional football player is suing the hotel where the alleged incident occurred.

James Bruzek, Jr. is suing the Marriott Market Street Hotel, located at 1201 Market St. in Center City, Philadelphia, for injuries he sustained to his foot after a security rope stanchion “slammed down” on his right foot while he was standing outside of the hotel waiting to obtain an autograph from the Indianapolis Colts’ Payton Manning.

The incident occurred on Nov. 6, 2010 at between 4 and 4:30 in the afternoon.

The lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 30 at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas by attorney Louis B. Himmelstein, of the firm Louis B. Himmelstein & Associates, also names the Indianapolis Colts football organization as a defendant.

The complaint claims that the heavy rope stanchion fell on the plaintiff’s right foot due to the negligence of security personnel working for both the Colts and the Marriot.

As a result of the incident, the suit claims, Bruzek sustained injuries to his head, shoulders, neck, back, legs, arms, fingers, knees, feet, ankles, toes, limbs and bones, cartilages, ligaments, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and soft tissues.

Bruzek has had to expend various sums of money on medical attention, which included hospital charges and surgery expenses.

The suit also claims that Bruzek has suffered a loss of earnings because of his inability to work.

In addition to the injuries he received outside of the hotel, which is where the football players were staying prior to a game with the Philadelphia Eagles, Bruzek also suffered severe physical pain and mental anguish as a result of his being “thrown violently about within the chair and/or stretcher and/or carrying device he was being carried in.”

The lawsuit accuses the security personnel for the Colts and the Marriot of negligence, carelessness and recklessness for causing the rope stanchion to strike the plaintiff’s foot, failing to warn the plaintiff prior to the incident, failing to properly control the crowd, failing to have adequate security personnel onsite, failing to utilize private means of ingress and egress from the hotel so as to avoid persons seeking to interact with Colts players, and failing to exercise due care under the circumstances.

Bruzek demands judgment against both defendants in a sum in excess of $50,000.

The case number is 111000021.