PHILADELPHIA – A state court judge dismissed litigation from a Philadelphia’s restaurant’s table busser who alleged he was threatened and extorted by one of his co-workers, a hostess.
On June 22, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Idee C. Fox ruled to grant plaintiff Vincent Ransom-Moore’s in forma pauperis petition after finding he could not pay the costs of litigation, but simultaneously ruled to dismiss the litigation outright for failure to state a claim.
Fox cited Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 240(j)(1) in making her ruling.
“If, simultaneous with the commencement of an action or proceeding or the taking of an appeal, a party has filed a petition for leave to proceed in forma pauperis, the court prior to acting upon the petition may dismiss the action, proceeding or appeal if the allegation of poverty is untrue or if it is satisfied that the action, proceeding or appeal is frivolous,” according to the rule.
Ransom-Moore of Philadelphia first filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on June 14 versus Concepts By Staib, also of Philadelphia.
In March 2017, Ransom-Moore said he was hired as a busser at Concepts By Staib’s City Tavern Restaurant, and was assisted in doing so on April 26, 2017 by a hostess named Brenda [last name unknown]. At the close of business, Brenda demanded to be paid $15 for providing that assistance in bussing the tables, which the plaintiff refused.
“After the plaintiff refused to pay her, she promised to ‘slap the s—t out of him’ unless he paid her. She also had stated she had ‘n—gas I can call’ in order to assault the plaintiff for refusing to pay her. The incident was witnessed by multiple Concepts By Staib employees, including manager Hafiz Muhammad. Mr. Muhammad made no attempt to stop the alleged harassment as it took place,” the suit stated.
“The incident was also witnessed by Leighann Grimley, Abdul Smallwood, Sadee Smallwood, Vincent Shaw, Justin Taylor, Albert [last name unknown] and Emily [last name unknown]. Mr. Shaw recorded the incident on cell phone video. The cell phone footage recorded by Shaw was shown to other Concepts By Staib employees,” the suit added.
The plaintiff brought the incident to the attention of Thomas Lamb, the general manager of City Tavern, and Lamb asked the plaintiff to describe to him what happened during the incident, the suit says. The plaintiff then gave Lamb his version of the incident, and Lamb followed up by inquiring to the other employees who witnessed the alleged incident as well, the suit says. Both accounts were allegedly identical.
Lamb spoke to Brenda in regards to the alleged incident, and Brenda admitted to him that the incident took place as alleged by the plaintiff, the suit says. The witnesses’ version of the incident was identical to the plaintiff’s version, but at the conclusion of the investigation, Brenda remained employed with Concepts By Staib, the suit stated.
“Prior to the incident with the plaintiff, Brenda had a history of misconduct at the workplace. Brenda’s misconduct at the workplace including saying ‘F— you’ to customers and informing co-workers ‘Your man don’t want you because your p— dried up,” the suit said.
Prior to dismissal and for counts of alleged harassment, workplace misconduct and extortion, the plaintiff was seeking exact damages of $50,001.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 180601597
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com