Franklin County Jury Awards $27 Million in Short North Bartender's Beating Death

On Labor Day weekend in 2022, Gregory Coleman Jr. was on the sidewalk outside the Julep bar on North High Street in Columbus's Short North. Coleman, a 37-year-old bartender, had an exchange with the bar's security workers in the early morning hours of September 5. Dwayne Cummings sucker punched him. Coleman fell and struck his head on the pavement, and while he lay unconscious, Cummings and a second security worker, Chrystian Foster, continued to beat and kick him.

Coleman never regained consciousness. He spent 13 days on a ventilator before he died on September 18, 2022. Cummings and Foster were later convicted of murder in the criminal case that followed and were each sentenced to 15 years to life.

Coleman's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Franklin County and retained Cooper Elliott, with Rex Elliott leading the case alongside firm colleagues. The suit named the two security workers and the bar's ownership, an operation tied to entities including I Love High LLC. The claims against the owners centered on negligent hiring, training, and supervision.

At trial, the firm argued that the bar had put two men on a crowded sidewalk to manage the public with almost none of the protections an employer is supposed to provide. According to the evidence presented, the guards were hired without background checks, were poorly trained, and worked without real supervision. "Every employer has a responsibility to effectively train their employee so that something like this doesn't happen," Elliott told the jury.

The trial ran for about a week in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. On July 25, 2025, the jury returned a $27 million verdict for Coleman's estate. The award was divided into $6.5 million for the pain and suffering Coleman endured during his 13 days in the hospital and $20.5 million for the loss to his family. Jurors assigned 80 percent of the fault to the bar's ownership and 10 percent each to Cummings and Foster.

After the verdict, Elliott and co-counsel Abby Chin said the result confirmed what the evidence had shown: a failure to uphold basic security and human dignity. The Julep bar had closed before the case reached trial.