Shank v. Riker Restaurants Associates, Inc

In Shank v. Riker Restaurants Associates, Inc. (28 Misc 2d 835, 216 N.Y.S.2d 118 [Supreme Court New York County 1961], a restaurant was found liable for the injuries sustained by the plaintiff after the plaintiff was attacked by a third party in the restaurant. The court noted that before the assault, for 20 minutes, the third party created a disturbance in the restaurant, "berating customers in a vile manner." The third party even "drop-kicked" a glass "against the kitchen door causing water and pieces of glass to spray over a wide area" (id. at 836). The manager of the restaurant called the police, but then cancelled the call after the third party apologized and offered to pay for the glass. Later, the third party was joined by two others and started physically attacking customers, including the plaintiff. In holding that the third party's violent acts were foreseeable, the court stated: "While it might be said that the manager had no duty to eject him solely because of his vile and abusive language, when he drop kicked' the glass of water it became abundantly clear that the hoodlum' constituted a source of physical danger to defendant's patrons" (id. at 837).