Family sues NFL in crash that left girl paralyzed

Jorgy · 10-10-2003, 11:13 AM

Family sues NFL in crash that left girl paralyzed
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Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) _ The parents of a girl paralyzed in an accident caused by a drunken football fan sued the NFL, contending the league should be held responsible for the girl' s injuries.

The lawsuit says the league promotes the kind of behavior that led the fan to drink 14 beers at a New York Giants game in 1999 and then drive home.

Ronald and Fazila Verni of Cliffside Park initially filed their suit in 2001, but it was refiled Thursday to include the NFL and commissioner Paul Tagliabue as defendants.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had not been served with a copy of the lawsuit and declined comment. The Giants referred inquiries to their lawyer, who did not immediately return a call Friday.

The Vernis' daughter, Antonia, was 2 years old at the time of the accident. She was paralyzed from the neck down in the accident, remains on a ventilator and is not expected to regain use of her arms and legs, the family' s lawyer said.

The family was headed home from a pumpkin-picking trip in 1999 when their car and a truck driven by Daniel Lanzaro, 34, of Cresskill, collided in Hasbrouck Heights. Lanzaro' s blood-alcohol content was 0.26, nearly three times the legal limit in New Jersey. He was sentenced this summer to five years in prison.

Rosemarie Arnold, the Vernis' attorney, said the league and the team encourage excessive alcohol use before and during NFL games.

``What they do is promote the concept that you can' t have fun at a football game unless you' re drunk,' ' she said. ``Giants Stadium opens four hours before a game. Why? So people can tailgate. The notion of the game is, if you' re drunk, you' re going to have a good time. Then you leave in your car and drive home.' '

Besides the NFL, defendants include Lanzaro, the Giants, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Giants Stadium and Aramark, a company that sells concessions at the stadium. A message left with the sports authority was not immediately returned Friday.

Arnold said the NFL was not initially named as a defendant because the family had to wait for Lanzaro' s sentencing before their attorneys could interview him about his conduct at the game.

The NFL forbids beer sales after the third quarter, and the Giants go a step further by shutting down beer vendors at the start of the third quarter. The stadium also mandates that fans can buy only two beers at a time, but Arnold said Lanzaro gave the vendor a $10 tip and was allowed to buy six beers.

rockytop · 10-10-2003, 11:22 AM

This is bs. The darn individual is soley responsible for their actions. I get sick of passing the responsibility on to groups or people that didn' t make the sob do what he did. This is just lawyers grabbing money.

hntngirl · 10-10-2003, 11:30 AM

Quote:

The NFL forbids beer sales after the third quarter, and the Giants go a step further by shutting down beer vendors at the start of the third quarter. The stadium also mandates that fans can buy only two beers at a time, but Arnold said Lanzaro gave the vendor a $10 tip and was allowed to buy six beers.

Suits like this are usually complete BS. People need to be held responsible for their own actions, not expect everyone else to babysit them. However, in this case, I do think the vendor should be held partly responsible. There were rules and safeguards put in place by the stadium to see that things like this didn' t happen. The vendor chose to accept a bribe in exchange for violating those rules. And by " vendor" I mean the man himself, not the company he works for.

Sswpriz · 10-10-2003, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Rosemarie Arnold, the Vernis' attorney, said the league and the team encourage excessive alcohol use before and during NFL games.

Ya, right, the NFL says to come on down and drink all the beer you can, pass out, drive home drunk, yada, yada, yada......

These people are just trying to cash in on the ones with the deepest pockets, and it aint the guy that crashed into them...he probably doesn' t have muc hto begin with !!

Jorgy · 10-10-2003, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Suits like this are usually complete BS. People need to be held responsible for their own actions, not expect everyone else to babysit them. However, in this case, I do think the vendor should be held partly responsible. There were rules and safeguards put in place by the stadium to see that things like this didn' t happen. The vendor chose to accept a bribe in exchange for violating those rules. And by " vendor" I mean the man himself, not the company he works for.

I' m pretty much in agreement with you Hntngirl, I would say though that the company this guy sells beer for is also responsible. If you just think about it in some other context, the company is normally responsible for there employees actions, even when illegal.

I' m 99.99% sure though that the lawyer is the one that came up with the NFL being named in the lawsuit. I hope that they have some balls and turn around and sue the lawyer for a frivulous (sp?) lawsuit.

hntngirl · 10-10-2003, 11:56 AM

Quote:

I' m pretty much in agreement with you Hntngirl, I would say though that the company this guy sells beer for is also responsible. If you just think about it in some other context, the company is normally responsible for there employees actions, even when illegal.

Yeah, the whole company will probably be held responsible. That sucks though. A company can only do so much---call past employers, do criminal background checks. I just hate it that companies are held responsible for the actions of stupid employees when they had no way of knowing what some moron was going to do when they weren' t looking. Now, if the company had knowledge of employees accepting bribes and did nothing to stop it, that would be different.

Jorgy · 10-10-2003, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Yeah, the whole company will probably be held responsible. That sucks though. A company can only do so much---call past employers, do criminal background checks. I just hate it that companies are held responsible for the actions of stupid employees when they had no way of knowing what some moron was going to do when they weren' t looking. Now, if the company had knowledge of employees accepting bribes and did nothing to stop it, that would be different.

That is a great point I didn' t think of. But as a business owner, I (my company) is ultimently responisble for all of my employees when they are working.

SothTxCajun · 10-10-2003, 12:17 PM

The saddest thing of all is people are trying to profit off of this childs suffering. I hope the man has some remorse for what he did five years in jail is nothing to never being able to walk run shoot a gun or throw a ball. As for the seller he or she should be kicked dead in the a** and sent to jail also or heck just take the money he make and give it to the kid

RedAllison · 10-10-2003, 08:22 PM

Why is it the " sellers" fault guys???

SothTxCajun you should REALLY stop and think about this! Whats the difference if you were a gun dealer and someone buys a gun from you (or it was stolen from a customer of yours) and then someone is shot dead and that persons family names you and your gunshop in the lawsuit??? Whats next, should the dealer who sold that guy the car he ran someone down with, should that dealer be sued as well??? First it was the Tobacco companies, next will it be Miller Brewing and Anheiser Busch?

THIS is a prime reason why we need Tort reform in this nation. The G*# M$*#*$F*#*@(% Trial Lawyers Association has the Democrats in their back pockets and THATS why crap like this is even allowed to be brought to trial!

[:' (]
RA

Dave590 · 10-10-2003, 09:25 PM

I try to place myself in the position of the parent when reading a post like this. I would suspect that it is easy to attempt to spread the blame to anyone who might have even REMOTELY had any blame in the death of your kid.

I would also suspect that it is the duty of the court to find the blame on the individual rather than the sport the individual was attending.

Hopefully, this suit will die the obvious death that it needs to.

RedAllison...Your attempt at circumventing the profanity filters is becoming quite booring.

While I agree with many of your notions...There is probably a better way to get it across.