A realtor has been awarded $45,000 in damages for having his jaw broken at the Caprice Nightclub on Vancouver’s Granville Street in 2006.
Leo Paskalidis, who also works as a mortgage broker, took off his jacket while dancing because it was a hot summer night, but a bouncer told him to put his jacket on.
“Dress code,” the bouncer explained to Paskalidis, who asked why one of the women nearby was not told to put a jacket on.
The bouncer, Monty Cahley, said she did not have to “because she is a girl.”
Paskalidis, 38, told his friend it was time to leave.
The plaintiff claimed he had nothing to drink before arriving at the club, where he had two beers.
As he was leaving, he put on his jacket, then took it off again because it was so hot.
As he was walking toward the door, he felt a push from behind. He turned and saw his friend walking towards the door. The friend and one of the bouncers then grabbed each other.
Another bouncer, Cahley, then lunged at Paskalidis and said, “Do you want to f— with us?” the plaintiff testified.
Cahley grabbed Paskalidis by the throat, turned him, and pinned him to the door, the realtor said.
Paskalidis pushed Cahley’s face back with an open right hand, with his fingers splayed. He recalled he was still holding his jacket in his left hand.
He then felt a big shove from behind and he was pushed against the brick wall beside the door outside the club. Cahley was still choking him, he said.
Another bouncer, Joseph Stimac, grabbed Paskalidis’ left arm. He saw another bouncer, Anthony Fabiano, wind up to strike him.
He was hit in his left rib cage and face, a blow that broke his jaw and caused bleeding and severe pain.
Paskalidis was then thrown to the sidewalk. He immediately called 911 and was taken by ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital.
He spent seven days in hospital and had an operation on his jaw, which required 9 screws and plates.
His jaw was wired shut for almost six weeks, his weight dropped 20 pounds to 140 pounds and he had excruciating pain in his ribs, numbness in his fingers and severe jaw pain.
None of the bouncers recalled striking Paskalidis. Fabiano said he has never struck any patron. Unlike the other bouncer defendants, Fabiano did not prepare a written incident report, even though this was required by club policy. The judge found Fabiano inflicted the jawbreaking blow.
“Although the blows that caused the injuries were thrown by Mr. Fabiano, I find that the defendants were acting in concert and aiding each other in this enterprise and are jointly and severally liable,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke concluded. The nightclub was one of the defendants.
The judge awarded the plaintiff $45,000 in non-pecuniary damages for his injuries, but denied Paskalidis’s claim for aggravated and punitive damages.
“This was a very brief incident where emotions ran high and the defendants overreacted, resulting in the use of excessive force,” the judge said in written reasons released Tuesday.
“I am not satisfied that there was a deliberate attempt to humiliate the plaintiff or that he is entitled to compensation for hurt feelings caused by the nature of the defendants’ conduct.”
Full judgement HERE
