SantaCon reveler who wound up in coma has only himself to blame: judge

[Sugar Cookie]

It’s a lost Claus.

A SantaCon reveler who landed in a coma after falling down a flight of stairs at a Manhattan bar only has himself to blame for the drunken tumble, a judge ruled.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe tossed a personal injury suit brought by sozzled Santa Christopher Visone against the since-shuttered Third Avenue Tavern over his Dec. 14, 2014 fall.

“Providers of alcohol owe no duty to protect against the consequences of one’s own voluntary intoxication,” Jaffe said in her ruling.

Visone, 32, a sales rep from the Bronx, admits to downing at least five drinks at that year’s SantaCon — an annual spectacle where participants don St. Nick outfits and storm city bars en masse to guzzle grog.

But he insists he fell backward down about 20 steps at the Kips Bay sports bar because he slipped on something in the stairwell.

“The bar was messy,” Visone told The Post. “I have to think [the fall] was due to the condition of the stairs.”

Visone wound up in a medically induced coma for weeks while receiving treatment for a traumatic brain injury.

His attorney argued the bar should have posted a guard at the top of the stairs to protect patrons — but the judge just scoffed at the idea.

“I mean, I’ve never heard of that,” Jaffee told lawyer Denny Tang during a hearing over the summer.

Visone’s medical records indicate that the fall was “alcohol related,” and his blood-alcohol level was 0.34 — over four times the legal limit, said the bar’s attorney, Andrew Funk.

“This gentleman went out to SantaCon. [He was] partying since 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. — it was 1 a.m.,” Funk said. “He had a huge blood alcohol level and he just passed out and fell down.”

Jaffee agreed after finding no evidence of a spill or other items left on the stairway.

Visone claims to have had only one drink at the tavern between arriving at 10 p.m. and leaving three hours later — but argued that if he had been that wasted, the watering hole should never have let him in.

But the judge said he couldn’t have it both ways — noting in her ruling that an expert for Visone “contradicts himself by characterizing plaintiff as too drunk to be in the bar, but not too drunk to walk down the stairway safely absent any dangerous condition.”

https://nypost.com/2018/12/19/santacon-reveler-who-wound-up-in-coma-has-only-himself-to-blame-judge/

 

[Sejanus]

Here Comes Santa Claus. Here Comes Santa Claus falling down the stairs.
He's a lush that's traveling around, to sample many bars wares.
He got blitzed and fell on his ass, no one to blame but himself.
Ended up in a coma with brain damage, that's one really liquored-up elf!

 

[Old Man Metal]

I like the writer's style.

Drunken broheim, not so much.