December 31, 2007
Roughed-Up Reveler Sues Club Over 3 Bottle Shakedown
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.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.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.
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!
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The real question here is: why would anyone want to go to a shitty, hot, cramped, loud club full of assholes for the privilege of paying $350 for an eighteen dollar bottle of vodka?
...
I'm curious as to why the Bouncers weren't arrested?
Maybe Arena can settle and comp this idiot $2mn worth of table service. That'll keep him and his bros in the cups for about . . . 6 months.
Maybe by biting the douchebags that feed them, these stupid bottle service clubs will run themselves out of existence. Dare to dream, right? In reality, as long as the hair gel keeps pumpin' these clubs'll keep bumpin.
If his story is true, then I think suing htem for $2mil is actualyl very fair. Assaults, threats, kidnapping and nearly mugging him.
I wish people would not patronize establishments like that. The owners of these clubs just laugh at the idiots that enter and unload their money.
Does anyone actually have any respect for their customers?
Losers.
Could the bouncers be charged with kidnapping or unlawful restraint? It would probably be only another item on their long rap sheets anyway.
I bet he's not going to go to a bottle club to bring in the New Year. I can just imagine what they would charge per bottle for all the nonsense they provide.
Was the 3-bottle minimum requirement posted in a conspicuous location (as per NYC Consumer Law)?
Regardless, the bouncers still behaved like thugs.
How is it that none of the bouncers were charged with assault?
unless....
If somebody gets in your face and calls you a cocksucker, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won't walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can't walk him, one of the others will help you, and you'll both be nice. I want you to remember that it's a job. It's nothing personal.
and...
I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice.
Road House was on again.
Anyone who's been around NYC for while knows how shady the nightclub industry actually is. The whole things is funded by the mob and drug money. That's why clubs close and re-open as something else every two years. I'm not certain why anyone would drop thousands of dollars to sit in a hot, uncomfortable room listening to music that's so loud you can't even have a conversation. Plus, if you're at a table getting bottles, you're not even dancing. Bottle service isn't going anywhere. It plays on the media created feelings of inferiority in people, who feel the need to play superstar. Sad, but very very true.
Minimums at bars and restaurants is lame.
Who the hell can drink three bottles of liquor anyway? I would need at least two friends to polish off one bottle of vodka, and even then I'd probably be hammered.
Whatever. Clubs like this are good for one thing -- they keep those people out of the places I like to go.
Sounds like he got Nightclubbed.
Thanks be that I don't work in nightclubs anymore...I've seen people get curbed for worse by crazed bouncers. Methinks Arena will lose this battle.
The nightclub industry is not as mob-run as implied.
It's a poor stereotype that bouncers have rap sheets.
I used to manager a bar and I was a bouncer at one time as well. Sure you gotta grab some guy here and there, but these guys went too far.
He didn't just get assaulted and kidnapped, he got robbed. How could they possibly ever justify running that many charges without permission and then drag him to an atm!? I do think bottle service clubs like this are stupid, but it's still no reason suffer like this. I wonder if he could have gotten those two other bottles of vodka in a to go bag?
I've heard most of the big clubs are owned by Israeli's, which could have ties to the Israeli mob. And I don't mean that as an inflammatory remark, just something I've heard around town.
These dumbass clubs are just more NY disney. There ain't nothin underground or "exclusive" about em, except that they exclude everyone who knows better than to get ripped off there. Conspicuous consumption is so 80s. Post-yuppie folks hellbent on having an "experience" would do better to quit their jobs and get a real life. You can't be in the movie and watching it at the same time, you're gonna get burned.
"If somebody gets in your face and calls you a cocksucker, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won't walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can't walk him, one of the others will help you, and you'll both be nice. I want you to remember that it's a job. It's nothing personal.
and...
I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice"
FOR TEH WIN!
It's either $2 million, or 2 million dollars, not both.
JAEGER BOMB
Curtain falls on Crazy Horse Too
Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
September 9, 2006
Author: Carri Geer Thevenot
Estimated printed pages: 4
By CARRI GEER THEVENOT
REVIEW-JOURNAL
As part of its plea agreement, The Power Co. must pay $10 million to Kirk and Amy Henry. Kirk Henry, a Kansas City tourist, was paralyzed from the chest down in September 2001 after he disputed an $80 bill at the club.
Lap dances and liquor sales ceased Friday at the Crazy Horse Too Gentlemen's Club after owner Rick Rizzolo decided to close the business while fighting disciplinary action imposed by the Las Vegas City Council.
District Judge Mark Denton met privately with attorneys in his chambers Friday morning before denying the strip club's request for a temporary restraining order to stop city officials from enforcing the discipline, which includes the revocation of the club's liquor license. He then scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday morning, when he will take the next step of ruling on the club's request for a preliminary injunction.
"He just indicated it was a very serious matter. He wanted to make a decision after having all the facts in front of him on the record," Crazy Horse Too attorney Anthony Sgro said after attending the hearing in Denton's chambers.
The City Council voted Wednesday to revoke the club's liquor license and impose a $2.2 million fine as punishment for crimes committed by the business, Rizzolo and several employees.
In June, Rizzolo pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony tax charge as part of a deal that requires him to sell the club. His corporation, The Power Co., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity.
On Thursday, the Crazy Horse Too briefly stopped selling alcohol in response to the City Council's action the previous day, but the business resumed liquor sales after Sgro gave his opinion that city officials had served the disciplinary order improperly.
Immediately after the hearing in Denton's chambers Thursday morning, Sgro continued to maintain that position.
"At this point, Crazy Horse Too continues to serve alcohol based on my advice," the attorney said.
Sgro said a city representative left a copy of the council's order on one of the club's bars Wednesday, took a picture of it, and left.
"Under the statute, that's not appropriate service," the attorney said.
Sgro said Denton hinted that he was not persuaded by that argument.
"I got the impression from the judge that if the club continues to pour, they do that at their own peril, meaning: If I'm right, no harm, no foul; if I'm wrong, it could be a fact the judge takes into account and uses against the Crazy Horse Too," the attorney said.
Beginning at about 1:30 p.m. Friday, bouncers at the Industrial Road club stood in the doorway and turned away the handful of potential patrons who approached.
"I do not believe that they've been served properly. However, Rick has determined that in an abundance of caution he should wait before continuing to do business until we have the judge's order on Tuesday," Sgro later said.
City Attorney Brad Jerbic said copies of the disciplinary order were served Thursday at the club and at Sgro's office. On Friday, a copy was served at the law firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins, where the club's resident agent works.
Jerbic said city officials do not believe any service was required.
"We believe the license was revoked the minute the council cast its vote," he said.
A tourist from New Jersey who identified himself only as Mike said he was given a coupon good for one free drink at the Crazy Horse Too as he was turned away from the club Friday afternoon.
"I always hit this place when I'm in town," he said. "It has some of the best women in town."
Four Spanish-speaking men tried to enter the club and also were sent away with free-drink coupons.
"Cerrado," one of the club's workers explained, using the Spanish word for "closed."
As dancers left, they hugged the male employees. The dancers declined to comment.
Business license officers, accompanied by Las Vegas police, went to the club at 4 p.m. and confirmed that the club was closed, said Mark Vincent, director of finance and business services for the city. Officers remained at the club waiting for liquor distributors to come and remove the alcohol.
"They asked to keep the liquor on the premises until Tuesday's hearing, but we'd much rather have the liquor out," Vincent said.
In the Crazy Horse Too's application for a restraining order, Sgro argues that the city violated the state's open meeting law in deciding on the club's punishment and that the council's decision violated the municipal code by failing to include "the required findings of fact and conclusions of law." In addition, he argues that the municipal code allows the City Council to revoke the club's liquor license or impose a fine, but not both.
The application for a restraining order also claims the city's "true intent" in imposing the "grossly severe sanction" against the Crazy Horse Too is to seize the property for the expansion of Industrial Road.
According to the document, the city "is fully aware" that the value of the property, when occupied by Rizzolo's licensed business, has a value of between $30 million and $35 million and that the city's cost for the planned condemnation likely would exceed $10 million.
Without the licensed business, according to the document, the value of the property "may be as low as $11 million, and the cost of the planned condemnation would be substantially lower." The document concludes that the revocation of the club's license will save the city millions of dollars.
Noting that the criminal case in federal court requires the club's sale, the document states that "it is fully anticipated" that city officials "will develop some pretext to deny" the prospective buyer's application for a license to operate the business "to preserve the savings described above."
"Not only will defendant city seek to cement that savings by denying such an application, it is also anticipated that part of defendant city's motivation will be retaliatory in response to the plaintiff's attempt to enjoin its decision and to disclose defendant city's behavior," according to the document.
In response to the allegations about the city's "true intent" in choosing the club's punishment, Jerbic said, "Outside counsel has been retained by the city manager to give advice on these issues. The city attorney's office is not involved in this matter." He declined to comment further.
According to an affidavit prepared by Rizzolo, revocation of the club's liquor license "will dramatically reduce the value" of the Crazy Horse Too, cause the club to lose most of its employees, likely cause the permanent closure of the business, and "inhibit the ability" of The Power Co. and Rizzolo to comply with their plea agreements.
Sgro has said he will seek to withdraw Rizzolo's guilty plea if the city succeeds with its revocation of the topless club's liquor license because the sale of the club, which is a condition of the plea deal, would not be possible at a reasonable price.
Sgro said the club's insurance company already has paid $1 million to the couple. Amy Henry pleaded with the City Council this week not to revoke or suspend the club's liquor license before the couple have received the remainder of the money.
Why are you telling us all of this?
The same thing happened to me and my friends this summer at the same club! Me and a bunch of friends split 2 bottles however we were charged for three. No one could figure out why because no one ordered a 3rd bottle; those assholes never mentioned a 3 bottle minimum. We had $1250 check to pay for after the waitress charged us a $200 gratuity fee... that mother fucker. Us, being 18 year old college students didn't have the money for the extra bottle. The waitress held my friend's credit card hostage until we could pay it off but she wouldn't let us use his or my parents because we were under 21. I was walked by bouncers to the atm 2 blocks away and told to withdraw the $600 i had in my account which was money i saved for college. Finally they let us go after taking all of the cash we had on us, leaving us nothing to get home with. The owner's a fucking asshole and I think I saw the waitress in a porno. They should be out of fucking business and I hope they close
Other than the robbery, did you enjoy yourselves if the waitress didn't fuck you over for the two hundred dollar tip and the extra bottle? What did the waitress do to earn $200?
I go down to party in NYC every so often, live in Toronto where bottle service isnt needed to get into a good club. The idea of exclusivity shouldnt rest with the concept of paying 400 a bottle and it doesnt. Arena is a dump located right around times square that is literally placed in the middle of a desolate street. This says alot about the place. But you cant bash the 'exclusive' bottle service based NYC nightlife scene (meatpacking district etc). I still respect places like Tenjune, Marquee, and even Bungalow 8 which place judgement in the hands of doormen and not credit cards when deciding on entry. That being said, bottles even make sense regardless of where you are, if theres a group of guys your going to end up buying the same amount of drinks (for you or females) without bottles. Men do not dance as much as women, thats a fact, so in terms of space management it makes sense to have tables as well. I think alot of people here are bashing the idea of bottles because they cant afford to buy them. I mean what is a bottle about 400 with gratuity in new york? At any decent club your looking at 1 bottle to 2 men any way, 200 bucks a person. Come on, in one of the most expensive cities in the world is that really that expensive?