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Roughed-Up Reveler Sues Club Over 3 Bottle Shakedown
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 31, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 31, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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22-year-old Gregory Barnard was having a pretty sweet night with his bros at the Times Square nightclub Arena (pictured) one night over the summer. Fresh out of NYU, the kid spent the evening enjoying a reasonably priced $350 dollar bottle of vodka, watching the club’s far-out video projections, and allegedly getting a beatdown from bouncers for not buying enough booze!
According to Barnard, it all started when the time came to settle the tab and his server seriously harshed the vibe with news of Arena’s 3 bottle minimum, which left her no choice but to charge him an extra $700 bucks for two unordered bottles. When Barnard refused, a series of events unfolded that truly capture the essence of the New York nightclub experience:
After running Barnard’s credit card several times, the waitress claimed it was denied. A bouncer threw him to the floor and held him down while two other bouncers punched and kicked him, he said.
They then picked Barnard up and walked him two blocks to an ATM for more money, but the bank had frozen his card because the waitress had already charged $1,400 on it, swiping the card at least nine times, he said.
So the bouncers dragged him back to the club and held him until the police arrived to arrest him for “theft of services” – a charge which was later dropped. Oh, what a night. Now Barnard is suing Arena for $2 million dollars; he filed suit last week in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Forbes has said that New York City has some of the most expensive bottle service in the country. And what’s your worst nightclub bouncer experience – maybe we can get a class action going!
Tagged
city
manhattan
Manhattan Supreme Court
new york
new york city
NYU
supreme court
The Police
Times Square
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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