DRAM SHOP AWARD:

October 26, 2010

Neil Murray, a partner at Sheridan & Murray reached a settlement agreement involving the death of James Schickling at a national recognized hotel. The hotel chain named in the lawsuit has agreed to pay the victim's wife, Kathleen Schickling, and his children $5,500,000.00 in compensatory damages.

On the night of June 3, 2006, several fights broke out at the hotel in Pennsylvania hosting two wedding receptions. During the course of the third dispute, James Schickling, who was not involved in any of the confrontations, was sucker punched in the side of the head, resulting in serious brain trauma. The assault was committed by an intoxicated groomsman from one of the wedding receptions. After undergoing emergency surgery to relieve the pressure and bleeding on the brain, the victim was placed on life support. On June 5, 2006, after brain death was confirmed, Mr. Schickling was taken off life support and pronounced dead. The coroner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

The plaintiff sued under claims that the hotel failed to follow established security and safety procedures, leaving hotel visitors in danger of harm. The hotel in question was aware of security policies designed to protect members of the public from harm, yet chose to ignore them, which subsequently lead to the death of Mr. Schickling. The hotel was also sued for violations of Pennsylvania liquor laws by continuing to serve alcohol to obviously intoxicated wedding guests, including the groomsman, which contributed to the death of her husband.

The hotel had advanced notice that the establishment would be filled to capacity with large numbers of guests partaking in the consumption of alcohol at two open bar wedding receptions. Despite this knowledge, the hotel gave no consideration to increasing the number of security personnel on duty to handle the large number of guests in an environment with a history of fights and drunken disorderly conduct.

The police were not called to the scene after the first dispute, and were only summoned to the scene after the lone, untrained security guard was knocked unconscious attempting to separate the second fight. This was not the first case of violence at the hotel. According to local police incident reports, there were 8 fights, 9 instances of public drunkenness, and 14 instances of disorderly conduct reported within the three years prior to the mentioned attack. Four of these incidents involved wedding parties similar to those taking place on June 3, proving that the hotel was well aware of potential risks. For only another $200, the hotel could have added two additional guards to provide security that evening.

The assault was admittedly unprovoked, as the victim was not involved in any of the night's disputes. The attacker pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter in criminal court, was sentenced to 20 to 60 months imprisonment. He agreed to pay $7,000 of settlement in the civil lawsuit. The additional $5.5 million will be paid by the hotel, to the victim's family for the compensatory damages caused by the negligent conduct of the hotel.

"If the hotel had followed basic and accepted policies regarding security and service of alcohol, the conduct of the drunken guests at the hotel would have been controlled and the assault of Mr. Schickling would not have occurred," said Murray. "The hotel's decision to place profits over the safety of its guests cost Mr. Schickling his life."

Michael Zenner - CEO      
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