Attacked at a bar and sustained brain injuries

[James Warner]

Jurisdiction

Ohio

On August 6, 2021 I met my ex-wives new boyfriend at a bar to have a civil discussion as he had been asking me for months to meet him. As we are sitting at the bar he begins to antagonize me over the fact that he is the one sleeping with my ex-wife now and saying things like he is going to be my sons new father etc... I stood up 3 different times asking him if he wanted to go outside when eventually a waitress comes over and very aggressively told him to leave the bar. After about 20 minutes he comes back into the bar and sits down by me again telling me that I am a pussy and I am not going to do anything. He calls me outside and I follow. As soon as I walk out the front door and he knocks me unconscious. According to witness statement and the police reports he continues to kick me while im unconscious on the ground. The next thing I know I am waking up in a hospital in Columbus, Ohio about 2 hours where I am from, suffering from multiple brain injuries, a skull fracture, a broken jaw, a fractured occipital bone, & a broken ankle that required surgery to correct. I filed the complaint pro se on July 20, 2022 and have been filing motions and conducting discovery all on my own the whole time. We have had 2 phone conferences and there is another scheduled for July 24th where the judge led me to believe it will be set for trial. I included the bar and the assailant in the complaint and they are both represented with the bar being indemnified by their insurance company. I am a little bit studied on the law but by no means am I adequate enough to take on actual attorneys in a court room setting. I have put in multiple public records requests with the police involving the man who attacked me and I have multiple police reports where he is caught trying to have false charges presses against me and I even have copies of the false statements that he wrote. The police say in the reports that it was all false and still didn't charge him with a crime. He has had multiple people write false statements when he was being investigated for felonious assault on me also. Anyone who read these files would see the transparency of everything he says. I am looking for advice on how to move forward or maybe some recommendations of attorneys who would take the case for a consignment fee

 

[Zigner]

On August 6, 2021 I met my ex-wives new boyfriend at a bar to have a civil discussion as he had been asking me for months to meet him. As we are sitting at the bar he begins to antagonize me over the fact that he is the one sleeping with my ex-wife now and saying things like he is going to be my sons new father etc... I stood up 3 different times asking him if he wanted to go outside when eventually a waitress comes over and very aggressively told him to leave the bar. After about 20 minutes he comes back into the bar and sits down by me again telling me that I am a pussy and I am not going to do anything. He calls me outside and I follow. As soon as I walk out the front door and he knocks me unconscious. According to witness statement and the police reports he continues to kick me while im unconscious on the ground. The next thing I know I am waking up in a hospital in Columbus, Ohio about 2 hours where I am from, suffering from multiple brain injuries, a skull fracture, a broken jaw, a fractured occipital bone, & a broken ankle that required surgery to correct. I filed the complaint pro se on July 20, 2022 and have been filing motions and conducting discovery all on my own the whole time. We have had 2 phone conferences and there is another scheduled for July 24th where the judge led me to believe it will be set for trial. I included the bar and the assailant in the complaint and they are both represented with the bar being indemnified by their insurance company. I am a little bit studied on the law but by no means am I adequate enough to take on actual attorneys in a court room setting. I have put in multiple public records requests with the police involving the man who attacked me and I have multiple police reports where he is caught trying to have false charges presses against me and I even have copies of the false statements that he wrote. The police say in the reports that it was all false and still didn't charge him with a crime. He has had multiple people write false statements when he was being investigated for felonious assault on me also. Anyone who read these files would see the transparency of everything he says. I am looking for advice on how to move forward or maybe some recommendations of attorneys who would take the case for a consignment fee

This is not something to handle on your own. You need an attorney. This is not a referral board, nor would you want to hire any (purported) attorney who trolls message boards for clients. Look for an attorney in the same way you would look for any other service. Use your favorite search engine, ask friends, etc. Don't expect this to be taken on any sort of consignment basis - it's not that type of case, and you already got a bad start by trying to handle this yourself.

 

[James Warner]

This is not something to handle on your own. You need an attorney. This is not a referral board, nor would you want to hire any (purported) attorney who trolls message boards for clients. Look for an attorney in the same way you would look for any other service. Use your favorite search engine, ask friends, etc. Don't expect this to be taken on any sort of consignment basis - it's not that type of case, and you already got a bad start by trying to handle this yourself.

I had no other options at that point

 

[Tax Counsel]

It is is at it's heart a personal injury and assault claim. Lawyers do take typically take those cases on contingency if they see some worthwhile fee being paid at the conclusion should they win. However, unless the attacker has some unprotected assets sufficient enough to make it worthwhile, that's what will kill interest in a contingency fee arrangement. Obviously, I have no idea what assets the guy has that you may be able to attach to collect other than perhaps wages if he is employed by someone else. I would think, though, that criminal charges against him would tend to lead to his termination by most employers.

I'm not seeing anything here that suggests the bar is liable. If it was, that would interest an attorney in a contingent fee arrangement because there is insurance behind the bar what will pay if the bar was liable. But since the attack took place outside the bar, I'm having trouble seeing what the connection would be between the bar and the attack that took place.

Even getting a lawyer to take this on an hourly basis might be a challenge. You filed the complaint and have handled the case for awhile on your own. That would put a lawyer in a position of having to litigate with one hand behind his/her back because they would be locked into certain positions by the actions you've already taken. There are also some challenges here, one of which is that by your own account you were the first one to suggest, several times, that you both go outside and fight it out. The extent of his attack is something that might overcome that problem, but just from what you've said it's not a clear cut case in your favor.

Contact the state bar association and legal aid programs to see if you can get an attorney for this that will either do it pro bono (at no fee or reduced fee that you can pay) or will take it on contingency. Law schools in your state may be able to provide law students to help you in their litigation clinics. You're going to have to reach out to a variety of resources to find the help you need, if anyone is willing to do it. You may have to go through several lawyer who say no to get one that will agree to take it.

Learn a lesson from this. Not rising to the taunts and name calling of the other guy and not going out to fight the other guy does not make you weak or a pussy. It makes you someone who can control his emotions and not let them get the better of him. Nothing that he said should be sufficient to justify a brawl outside the bar. Instead, just say "whatever dude" and walk away. After all, what do you care what this guy thinks?

 

[army judge]

On August 6, 2021 I met my ex-wives new boyfriend at a bar to have a civil discussion as he had been asking me for months to meet him.

That would prove to be a very poor decision, as you soon tell us.

There are reasons you and she were divorced.

Please, for your sake, you'd best serve yourself by remembering all of those reasons.

Once divorced, never look backward, only forward.

As soon as I walk out the front door and he knocks me unconscious.

Oh my, I'm sure you never expected that.

I am looking for advice on how to move forward or maybe some recommendations of attorneys who would take the case for a consignment fee

The best outcome for you, considering your top post, would be to let it go.

More than likely, even if you were awarded a $10,000,000 judgment, your attacker couldn't compensate you any more than $5.00 a week for the next 30 years.

Assuming your batterer complied with my fictional order, after 30 years of five bucks a week, you'd NOT have collected $9,000!!!

Thank your lucky stars, she's outta your life.

As the Prince of Pop once sang:

Michael Jackson Lyrics
"She's Out Of My Life"

She's out of my life
She's out of my life
And I don't know whether to laugh or cry
I don't know whether to live or die
And it cuts like a knife
She's out of my life

It's out of my hands
It's out of my hands
To think for two years, she was here
And I took her for granted, I was so cavalier
Now, the way that it stands
She's out of my hands

So, I've learned that love's not possession
And I've learned that love won't wait
Now, I've learned that love needs expression
But, I've learned too late

And she's out of my life
She's out of my life
Damned indecision and cursed pride
Kept my love for her locked deep inside
And it cuts like a knife
She's out of my life

...

 

[Red Kayak]

I'd be very concerned for the safety of my child being in mom's custody.

 

[stealthy1]

I'd be very concerned for the safety of my child being in mom's custody.

Not sure Dad's a prize, either.

Poor kid.

 

[James Warner]

It is is at it's heart a personal injury and assault claim. Lawyers do take typically take those cases on contingency if they see some worthwhile fee being paid at the conclusion should they win. However, unless the attacker has some unprotected assets sufficient enough to make it worthwhile, that's what will kill interest in a contingency fee arrangement. Obviously, I have no idea what assets the guy has that you may be able to attach to collect other than perhaps wages if he is employed by someone else. I would think, though, that criminal charges against him would tend to lead to his termination by most employers.

I'm not seeing anything here that suggests the bar is liable. If it was, that would interest an attorney in a contingent fee arrangement because there is insurance behind the bar what will pay if the bar was liable. But since the attack took place outside the bar, I'm having trouble seeing what the connection would be between the bar and the attack that took place.

Even getting a lawyer to take this on an hourly basis might be a challenge. You filed the complaint and have handled the case for awhile on your own. That would put a lawyer in a position of having to litigate with one hand behind his/her back because they would be locked into certain positions by the actions you've already taken. There are also some challenges here, one of which is that by your own account you were the first one to suggest, several times, that you both go outside and fight it out. The extent of his attack is something that might overcome that problem, but just from what you've said it's not a clear cut case in your favor.

Contact the state bar association and legal aid programs to see if you can get an attorney for this that will either do it pro bono (at no fee or reduced fee that you can pay) or will take it on contingency. Law schools in your state may be able to provide law students to help you in their litigation clinics. You're going to have to reach out to a variety of resources to find the help you need, if anyone is willing to do it. You may have to go through several lawyer who say no to get one that will agree to take it.

Learn a lesson from this. Not rising to the taunts and name calling of the other guy and not going out to fight the other guy does not make you weak or a pussy. It makes you someone who can control his emotions and not let them get the better of him. Nothing that he said should be sufficient to justify a brawl outside the bar. Instead, just say "whatever dude" and walk away. After all, what do you care what this guy thinks?

Thank you for your insight and advice

 

[Red Kayak]

Not sure Dad's a prize, either.

Poor kid.

Well, yeah.

I'm kind of concerned that Dad's reaction is not, "H***, this violent person could be abusing my child as the 'new' father figure", and petition for a change in the parenting plan.

OP tried to invite the dude to "step outside" 3 different times. The dude then invites OP to step outside, and OP does, which is accepting an invitation to fight. Rise to the bait and get caught.

It's better in meetings with ex's new squeeze to be so cool that butter won't melt in your mouth. Take the high road.

 

[army judge]

I had no other options at that point

I imagine you had many options.

Your first option was NOT to engage the sexual partner of another person, especially a former spouse.

Had you stayed in your own home that eventful evening, the entire sordid saga would have never happened.

You could have called 911.

You could have reported the threats to the establishment's manager.

Use your "noggin" dude, not your "knuckles".