PHILADELPHIA – A plaintiff who was allegedly assaulted in a Northeast Philadelphia restaurant is seeking a default judgment to be entered against the defendants for not filing a response to his lawsuit within the allotted time.
Carlos DeJesus-Catalan of Philadelphia filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 3 versus Benny The Bum’s Crab House, John Edward Hull and Nicholas Mavroudis, all of Philadelphia, One Bar Management, LLC (c/o Corporation Service Company PA Dauphin) of Harrisburg and MTTM, Inc. of Narberth.
“On or about Aug. 13, 2016, plaintiff patronized defendants Benny the Bum’s bar. Accompanying plaintiff was plaintiff’s friend, Jirmer Garcia. Defendants Mavroudis and Hull were at defendants’ bar that evening when plaintiff and Garcia arrived. It is believed and therefore averred, that defendants Mavroudis and Hull had been drinking at defendants’ bar for most of the evening,” the suit states.
Mavroudis and Hull were allegedly served well beyond the point of intoxication until 1 a.m., when they confronted DeJesus-Catalan and Garcia without provocation. As the plaintiff attempted to defuse the situation and exited the premises with Garcia into the parking lot, Mavroudis and Hull tackled DeJesus-Catalan to the ground and began to beat him.
“Defendants Hull and Mavroudis repeatedly, kicked, stomped and struck plaintiff in the head and his body. Plaintiff was defenseless and laying on the ground, seemingly unconscious, and unable to defend himself while defendants Mavroudis and Hull continued to beat him. Mr. Garcia attempted to intervene, calling people at the bar for help, but no one intervened and fearing for his life, was forced to flee the premises, but nobody came to assist plaintiff and Mr. Garcia,” per the suit.
EMS and Philadelphia Police Department officers arrived at the scene to attend to the plaintiff and arrest Mavroudis and Hull for assault, and those defendants were later criminally convicted for the crime, the suit says.
DeJesus-Catalan suffered a long list of injuries, including hematomas, head injury, brain swelling, lacerations to face, forehead, eyes, and lips, fractured orbital bone, sutures across his face, severe, permanent, and unsightly scarring across his face, multiple abrasions, memory loss, brain damage, anxiety, and depression, among others, the suit says.
The plaintiff alleges the defendant’s negligence in causing the assault to happen and failing to have adequate security on hand to prevent it is the proximate reason for his injuries.
On Oct. 23, the plaintiff’s counsel filed a praecipe for entry of default judgment for failure to file an answer to the lawsuit within the required time of 20 days, by Sept. 30, and without a valid reason.
For counts of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, dram shop liability and negligence, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, together with punitive damages, costs, delay damages, interest, and other damages the Court should deem appropriate.
The plaintiff is represented by David S. Jaffe of Freundlich & Littman, in Philadelphia.
The defendants do not have listed counsel, according to Court records.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 180703818
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com