Pub not liable for £71k injury payout, court told
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon should not have been made to pay £71,000 to a man whose hip was dislocated as he was restrained by two security guards, the High Court has heard.
Stephanus Bernardus Burger needed emergency surgery after the incident at The Rodboro Buildings in Guildford, Surrey, in August 2018, a hearing in London was told.
In September 2023, a judge awarded Mr Burger damages after finding the company "vicariously liable" despite the security guards being employed by Risk Solutions BG Ltd.
JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is challenging the ruling, with its lawyers telling the hearing that the judge "fell into error" in his decision and that Risk Solutions was a "true independent contractor".
In written submissions, Jonathan Payne, for JDW, said: "The training by Risk Solutions informed exactly how they (the security guards) performed their task and for which JDW had absolutely no input.
"On the night in question, JDW had no control and took no part in what happened."
Mr Payne told the court in written submissions that Mr Burger had attended the pub with two friends on the night of the incident but was refused entry.
He said the judge in 2023 found Mr Burger was walking away from the pub when one of the security guards jumped towards him with his knee or leg, connecting with his back and causing him to land face down.
Mr Payne said the judge found it was "an unprovoked and cowardly attack on a man walking away from the pub", which was "a vendetta for Mr Burger's rude and insulting behaviour".
Risk Solutions was not represented at the hearing.
Lia Moses, for Mr Burger, told the court in written submissions that the relationship between JDW and the security staff was "akin to employment".
She said: "Mr Burger's primary case is that (the judge) did not err in relation to his treatment of these matters, taking into account the evidence that was available."
She added that the finding that Mr Burger should be awarded the costs of private treatment is not "rationally insupportable".
Mr Justice Sweeting is expected to hand down a judgment in writing at a later date.
Additional reporting by PA Media.
Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Clip shows fatal shooting in Brazil, not India's Bihar state
"In the era of good governance in Bihar, Pawan Dusadh was shot dead in broad daylight. If this murder took place during the reign of Tejashwi Yadav, every media channel would have said 'lawlessness has returned to Bihar'," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post. The clip, shared with captions raising concerns over public safety in Bihar, shows two people on a motorcycle shooting another person before fleeing the scene. It has been watched over 112,000 times since it was uploaded on May 30. Yadav will lead the state opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party to challenge the coalition government -- mainly made up of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- in elections in Bihar expected later this year (archived link). Leader of India's largest opposition Congress party Rahul Gandhi has accused Kumar of turning Bihar into the country's "crime capital", while BJP leaders in the state said the RJD was responsible for the increasing crime rate (archived here and here). The footage has circulated with similar claims on Facebook and X. Comments from users suggest they believed the claim to be genuine. "Young people who speak up and raise their voices in Bihar are being murdered in this manner to silence them and spread fear, so that the entire society remains intimidated", reads a comment. Another user wrote, "The common people are not safe at all in Bihar." But the video shows an incident from Brazil, not Bihar. A reverse image search on Google using keyframes found the video was published in a report by Brazilian broadcaster TV Tambau on October 4, 2024 with a headline that reads, "Man is killed on the road while riding a motorcycle in Mandacaru" (archived link). Further keyword searches show Brazilian website O Povo PB published a longer clip on October 8, 2024 showing the same scene from a different angle at the 3:09 mark (archived link). The website identified the victim as 22-year-old Gabriel Junior de Oliveira Medeiros, who was shot dead in the Mandacaru neighbourhood in Joao Pessoa. Images on Google Street View also show that the video was captured along the Avenida Dom Manoel Paiva in the city (archived link). AFP has debunked other false claims related to Yadav here and here.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
WATCH: Firefighters put out garage fire; almost $150K in damage done
Firefighters quickly put out a well-involved garage fire in Huber Heights on Wednesday. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Huber Heights firefighters responded around 12:40 p.m. to the 7900 block of Thistlewood Court on reports of a garage fire. The department posted a video on social media. It shows the flames and black smoke surrounding the garage. Firefighters quickly extinguished it. TRENDING STORIES: Local woman trying to recover mom's Facebook account after stranger memorializes it 'Whip/Nae Nae' rapper sentenced for murder of cousin Air Quality for parts of region; rainy Father's Day weekend possible A person was home at the time of the fire and got out safely, according to Huber Heights Battalion Chief Brandan Deere. The fire did not spread to any other homes. A neighbor's home sustained minor heat damage. Deere told News Center 7 that the estimated cost of damages is $100,000 to the structure and $45,000 in contents. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Minister refuses to resign over 'reckless' Facebook post
A Stormont minister has rejected calls for him to resign over a social media post about the location of migrant families who left their homes hours before the centre was attacked. Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said that people caught up in clashes in Ballymena were being temporarily moved to Larne Leisure Centre. It was later attacked by about a crowd of 100 people and set on fire. The minister was accused of being "reckless and dangerous" by Alliance assembly member Danny Donnelly who was in the leisure centre when a crowd of about 100 smashed windows and set bins on fire inside. Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said Lyons should reflect on his comments, while the Green Party called for Lyons to resign. The attack on Larne Leisure Centre came during a third night of violence in Northern Ireland. Police have been attacked with fireworks, bottles and bricks during the disorder. The worst of the rioting was in Ballymena, but unrest also spread to other towns, including Larne, about 20 miles (30km) away, on Wednesday evening. The fire service said that fire damage to the centre had been "contained mainly to the front reception but there was extensive smoke damage". In a statement on Wednesday night, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said the families placed at the centre had all been "safely relocated" and were no longer using the centre. However, Lyons has been criticised for an earlier Facebook post in which he said he had been made aware that "a number of individuals were temporarily moved to Larne Leisure Centre". Sinn Fein Minister John O'Dowd called on Lyons to consider his position. He said the post was "unacceptable" and it failed to show leadership. Alliance MLA Danny Donnelly said: "I thought it was incredibly reckless and dangerous to highlight the location of where these people were being kept and brought to a place of safety." Justice Minister Naomi Long also criticised the communities minister, adding: "I don't think his comments were measured or wise". The SDLP's Matthew O'Toole said he would refer Lyons to the standards commissioner over his comments, saying "lives are at stake". Lyons has defended his comments saying the information was in the public domain, and had been confirmed by the local council. "I will very strongly hit back at any notion that I had revealed the use of this facility to the public when the protest was already planned, when everybody knew what was happening," Lyons told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme. He added that "the police had got in contact with our local councillors to say: 'We need to defuse the situation and let people know that this is or should no longer be the focus of any protest'." Green Party councillor Áine Groogan accused the minister of choosing to "stir division and deflect from his own failures". "This isn't leadership. It's cowardice. And it proves what many already know: Gordon Lyons is unfit for public office and should resign." The trouble began on Monday after a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in Ballymena, County Antrim. During the first two nights of disorder, 32 officers were injured and six people arrested. In Ballymena on Wednesday, smoke bombs, fireworks, bottles and bricks were thrown at police during a stand-off with a gathered crowd. A row of six police Land Rovers advanced on the crowd, with officers in full riot gear pushing a number of individuals back. Police also deployed dogs and a water cannon. Earlier on Wednesday it was confirmed that a significant number of extra police officers were being deployed into areas affected. Police Scotland has agreed to send officers, after police in Northern Ireland requested extra support under mutual aid arrangements.
