$2.18 Million Verdict for Man Left with Brain Damage After Fort Myers Nightclub Served Alcohol to an Underage Patron

In 2013, John Kenneth Anderson was standing outside The Bottom Line, a nightclub in Fort Myers, waiting for a ride home. Before he could leave, a 19-year-old named Amando Hernandez attacked him. Anderson suffered a traumatic brain injury, along with permanent short-term memory loss and partial hearing loss.

The nightclub was operated by TBLM Inc., owned by Mark S. Grunberg. What made the case both straightforward on its face and genuinely difficult to prosecute was the nature of Anderson's injuries: the brain damage wiped out so much of his memory that he could not reliably recall the assault itself, leaving his legal team to reconstruct the night through other means.

David Markel of Gerson and Schwartz tried the case. His theory combined two theories of liability: negligent security, in that the club failed to adopt and carry out adequate policies to prevent violence on the premises; and dram shop liability, in that staff had served Hernandez alcoholic beverages even though he was under the legal drinking age. The evidence showed Hernandez was a regular at the club and had been served there before.

The jury found TBLM Inc. liable on both theories and returned a verdict of $2,180,044. The Daily Business Review covered the outcome in a July 23, 2018 article that highlighted the challenge Markel faced: winning the case despite a client whose injuries left him unable to provide clear testimony about his own attack.

No subsequent reduction or remittitur of the award has been reported in publicly available sources.