Blog
Jury Awards $7 Million in Bar Fight Victim Case
A Tippecanoe County jury awarded David Widner a $7 million dollar verdict against Champs Sports Bar in Lafayette, Indiana and the owner of the bar, Ronald Mundell. Widner was followed outside by another bar patron and an attack ensued. Widner was repeatedly punched and kicked in the head. Widner nearly died from the beating he took and was hospitalized for seven months, while racking up $850,000 in medical bills. Widner suffered a traumatic brain injury which resulted in permanent brain damage.
According to court records, the fight took place in the parking lot of the bar early on the morning of December 28, 2012. Widner’s legal team argued that the attack on Widner was foreseeable and preventable if Champs and Mundell had taken basic steps for security. Widner hired a security and crime prevention expert who testified that Champs essentially had no security measures in place, and no written security plan. The expert also found that Champs had a history of violence and events inside and outside the bar, yet Champs ownership and their staff failed to adequately address these.
The man who actually attacked Widner, Brent Dimmitt, was also sued in civil court but he didn’t have any assets to go after. Dimmitt received an 18 year prison sentence as a result of the attack on Widner.