[bebo99]

New Jersey

Last Evening my brother and a few friends were at a club. One friend was kicked out for a really stupid reason, he hit a balloon that a bouncer was trying to catch so that he could remove it from the club, away from the bouncer The 3 of us stayed for a few minutes and then 4 bouncers surrounded us one saying "get these drunks out of here". For the record I had 2 and a half drinks, My brother 1 drink, and friend a few. It was no big deal, although the reason was ridiculous, there are a dozen other clubs so we began walking out just as if we were leaving under normal circumstances, all while the bouncers were pushing us into people. About 20 feet from the door it was crowded and I was being shoved, so I kind of nudged my elbow back trying to brace myself. (Note that I only weigh 125 pounds and so does my brother.) My elbow apparently touched the bouncers side (I wasn't swinging, causing trouble or threatening anyone, just trying to prevent myself from being shovered into people or getting push down on my way out.) The next thing I know the 230 pound bouncer picks me up by my throat, slams my head into the wall and holds me there cutting off my airflow while two other bouncers come over and start hitting me. To be honest I cant remember exactly when I was punched in the face (at least twice by the abrasions and bruises on my face this morning) since it all happened so fast, not because I was drunk, because I was not. Finally the one guy threw me out onto the street. I'm now outside and 3 other bouncers are running towards me swinging, hitting me a few more times. My brother got in the way and tried pulling the one away in a rather non violent way. One bouncer then picked him up by the throat to a point where he couldn't breath and threw him on the ground. (note this is all outside the club on the street) He starts standing up as I'm practically running for my life, and just as he gets up another bouncer blindside punches him in the eye. He wasn't threatening anyone or even hitting back trying to defend himself, pretty much just standing up so he could get away from it all. I'm so infuriated right now, as well as embarrased, and want to know what I should do next.

I spoke with a police officer outside the club and all he said was to go down to the state attorneys office Monday morning and file a complaint.

Please give me advice. Can I sue, can I press charges, whats next?
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[aaron]

What injuries did you suffer?

Did you follow the police officer's instruction?

[bebo99]

It's not monday morning yet.

Injuries, a pounding headach, a laceration on my forehead, and a bruised jaw (hurts pretty bad to open my mouth to eat).

Brother has a laceration next to his eye and scraped elbows

[seniorjudge]

It's not monday morning yet.

Injuries, a pounding headach, a laceration on my forehead, and a bruised jaw (hurts pretty bad to open my mouth to eat).

Brother has a laceration next to his eye and scraped elbows

Since you have no serious and permanent physical injuries, you probably have no civil case.

Since this was just one more drunken brawl, I doubt that the cops will be interested either.

However, hire a lawyer to discuss your options. I wasn't there and I do not know the facts.

[LawBlah]

If you want them charged criminally, then file a complaint at the local police station where the incident happened. But as mentioned the police may decline to get involved. You can also complain to the club owners and they may or may not discipline or fire the bouncers.

If you want money, then DOCUMENT your injuries. Best thing is to go to a doctor and get copies of the medical records, take pictures of the injuries and label them.

As mentioned unless your jaw is seriously messed up you won't have much damages that a lawyer would be interested in taking on a contingency basis.

However, this would be a decent case for small claims. You could name the all of the bouncers and the club as defendants, but you may have trouble in getting the names of, serving, and collecting from the bouncers, so I wouldn't bother. Just file a small claim naming the club as the defendant (make sure you use the LEGAL name, which is probably not the name of the club; find out the owner!) and sue them for $3,000. Claim your out-of-pocket medical expenses (keep receipts!) and claim the rest as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Have your brother file the same at the same time and you should get identical trial dates. When you get your trial date, go to court with your records and it would help a lot to have friends come as a witnesses too. Each of you can testify on your own behalf and for each other, as well as any other witnesses. You could win a total of $6,000 between the two of you.

It's very likely the club will offer to write you a check for less than that outright rather than bother with court, if you really have this kind of a case. You do not need an attorney for small claims.

See http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/civil/civ-02.htm for more details.

Needless to say you will be a persona non grata at the club after this.