Thank you for this quote!!!I registered on this site just to tell you that. Bravo.
Since I'm here, though, I hope you don't mind if I weigh in on this issue because I'm pretty darned passionate about it. I have lots that I'd like to say, but I'll stick to the legal stuff. I apologize in advance if this post is long.
IMO, both of the victims in this case have a very solid claim against the franchise owner. There is a duty in Maryland for business owners to provide a safe environment for their customers. The question is whether the owner knew or should have known of violent incidents in the surrounding area. Since there have been violent incidents at that McDonald's before, I'm pretty sure any decent attorney can make hay on this.
In addition, my understanding is that the McDonald's handbook requires management to do the following in this situation:
1) CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY. - They didn't call 911 for more than 10 minutes. Not until the victim has a seizure, in fact. (She has epilepsy. That's why she's holding her head so much in the video - she feels a seizure coming on.) A doctor who saw the video says that her grand mal seizure was very real, so I'm going to take his word over "Charm" Hackett's (the videographer) on this one.
2) ESCORT THE OFFENDERS OUTSIDE THE STORE IMMEDIATELY, IF POSSIBLE. - Since they were two teenage girls, I'm pretty sure that he could have managed this one with ease. He certainly shows no fear of them in the video and he makes only a very weak, half-hearted attempt to get them out of the store. Pathetic, in fact. I'm a middle aged woman and I could have done better. (I think the jury is really going to LOVE the part where he stops protecting the victim to pick up some trash on the floor, btw. Nice!)
3) LOCK THE DOORS BEHIND THE OFFENDERS. - Not only did he fail to lock the doors when they left, he allowed them reentry more than once! Most of the injuries to Ms. Polis occur after he fails to lock the doors behind them. Ms. Thoms (the good samaritan) is also punched after they came back inside. This is going to prove to be a very expensive mistake, I think. I hope.
4) CEASE ALL OPERATIONS UNTIL THE POLICE ARRIVE. - They seem to go on their merry way throughout.
Assuming that my information about the management handbook is correct, the manager on duty that night completely mishandled the situation. As a direct result of this, Ms. Polis and Ms. Thoms both suffered injury. The franchise owner is liable for the actions of his staff. Ergo: Ms. Polis, Ms. Thoms and their attorneys are going to be able to sue the pants off this franchise owner. They may end up as co-owners, as a matter of fact.
I think they'll be able to collect just because the assailants were allowed to reenter the premises. There is no one on a jury who would believe that preventing these women from coming back inside was beyond the scope of the managers duty or ability. It's simple common sense and well within the scope of what a reasonable person would do in that situation. As we used to say: DUH!
Any jury that watches all 10+ minutes of the full clip is going to be in a hanging mood. It gets worse for the franchise, though. Baltimore County runs all the way up to PA. This will be a mostly white jury made up of people who are not desensitized to violence. Watching two people simultaneously kick the completely unresisting victim in the head and even stomp on her head is going to be shocking to them the same way it was to most of us.
I know I'll get beaten up for saying this, but the race of the victim and attackers is going to factor into the jury's decision, too. Watching that white girl, trans gender or not, get kicked in the head repeatedly and dragged around by her hair is going to impact their decision. Right or wrong, it just will. The fact that she would have been dragged outside and probably killed if not for the intervention of Ms. Thoms is also going to impact their decision.
The fact that some employees are laughing during this brutal attack is going to add big dollars to the payout, too, not to mention that one of the employees appears to steal something that falls out of Ms. Polis' purse while she's being attacked. Talk about a completely unsympathetic defendant! It's pretty much the perfect storm against this franchise. McDonald's legal staff must be eating Tums by the bushel, and I can't even imagine what the insurance company that covers this franchise is going through.
The final nail in the coffin of this franchise owner is that the same woman who attacked Ms. Polis and Ms. Thoms (Brown, the 18 year old) was arrested in July, 2010 for another assault on another customer at that same franchise. She should never have been allowed into that franchise that evening. So, not only was there prior violence at this Mickey D's, there was violence against a customer that was perpetrated by the same assailant. Dollars to donuts that's not the only event, either.
Attorneys must be lining up outside the homes of both Ms. Polis and Ms. Thoms with their tongues hanging out. as they sharpen their knives. I usually hate tort lawsuits, but in this case I hope both victims stick it to this franchise. They should try to sue McDonald's Corp. as well. An attorney could make a good argument that McDonald's has a huge problem with violence against both their employees and their customers and therefore should be requiring franchisees with known problems to provide more security for their customers. Worth a try. right? After all, there are about 1,000 youtube videos of violent episodes in McDonalds and there have been two shootings in McDonald's this week alone.
IMHO, it is high time McDonald's hired some bouncers, at a minimum. They do it a lot in the UK and they have security in some of their stores in the US already. Things would have gone very differently that night if any kind of trained security was present. These girls should have been ousted when they first raised their voices and then this incident would never have happened.
Like someone here said, if you can't provide a safe environment for your customers, you shouldn't be in business. At the end of the day, security staff is WAY cheaper than a multimillion dollar lawsuit, that's for sure.
Sorry to run on so long. Thanks for letting me rant.
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