Texas man wins $5.5 million lawsuit against bar after he got into a fight with another customer and suffered a head injury because 'the bartender overserved him alcohol'
Daniel Rawls , who has been arrested multiple times for being drunk in public and carrying a prohibited substance in a correctional facility, was awarded $5.5 million after suing bar in Andrews, Texas, following injuries he sustained in a fight.
A Texas man with a history of arrests for public intoxication has won a $5.5 million lawsuit alleging that he was overserved alcohol at a restaurant.
Daniel Rawls of Andrews, Texas, won his civil suit against La Fogata Mexican Grill and Bar after claiming he sustained a 'serious and debilitating' head injury during a fight with another drunk patron in May 2019, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Rawls had been boozing it up at the bar before getting into the violent brawl with Robert Henrickson following an argument in the parking lot, according to the lawsuit.
Rawls, was arrested in February 2019 and again this past May for being drunk in public, claimed in his lawsuit that the bartender hired by La Fogata owner Lourdes Galindo had not properly trained the staff on how to recognize when a customer had had enough alcohol and might cause trouble if they continued to drink.
La Fogata Mexican Restaurant Bar and Grill and its parking lot in Andrews, Texas, where both Rawls and Henrickson were involved in a violent and bloody altercation
Rawls won the lawsuit after La Fogata restaurant owner Lourdes Galindo failed to appear in court
Galindo never responded to the lawsuit and the Andrews County 109th District Court judge gave Rawls the default judgment on July 19.
However, the court did not rule on whether Rawls’ claims were true.
La Fogata did not return a call from DailyMail.com for comment. Galindo has 30 days to file an appeal the verdict.
Rawls was arrested for public intoxication three months before his altercation at La Fogata, according to criminal records obtained by the Chronicle. While in jail he was also charged with carrying a prohibited substance in a correctional facility.
He again was arrested for public intoxication two months before the verdict, records show.
A separate recent lawsuit in Texas also involved a restaurant's alleged misconduct.
Ma’Kiya Congious filed a lawsuit against her former employer, Whataburger, a well-known regional fast-food franchise in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, alleging that she was reprimanded and fired for wearing a 'Black Lives Mater' branded face mask in August 2020. This is a condensed version of the information.
Congious argued that she had already been wearing the mask in the past and that other employees had also been seen wearing non-generic masks.
Despite this precedent, she claimed that a manager told her that she would have to change the mask and that the company didn't want masks being worn that expressed any opinions.