A Bartender Is Suing Multiple Vancouver Pubs After He Had 19 Drinks, Fell & Got A Head Injury
He claims the bars over-served him.
Bartender serving drinks.
A bartender who says he drank more than a dozen alcoholic drinks in one night and then suffered a head injury when he fell on a sidewalk is now suing multiple bars in downtown Vancouver.
Over a four-hour drinking session on August 23, 2016, Bradley Roger Johnson says he consumed 19 drinks — some of which contained double measures of liquor — before falling and being left with a "serious" injury, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision on April 22.
The lawsuit is a personal injury action, and Johnson is making claims against companies and individuals who he alleges served him "excessive amounts of alcohol."
The night of the injury
Johnson's night started at the bar where he worked, the Kingston Taphouse and Grille. Court documents say he drank two double vodka sodas after he finished his shift at 11 p.m.
He then went to Studio Lounge and Nightclub, where he drank two shots of whiskey and two ciders.
Next, he visited Relish the Pub, where he had four more ciders, another double vodka soda and another shot of whiskey. By the time he left Relish, it was about 2:15 a.m., the decision said.
Finally, he ended the night at The Roxy Cabaret, where he claims to have been served three double vodka sodas, three shots of whiskey and one "unidentified shot," while he was "visibly intoxicated," the decision says.
Johnson claims that after leaving the Roxy in the early morning of August 24, he "fell and suffered a head injury while severely intoxicated."
The lawsuit
Johnson first filed the claim in July 2018, initially naming only the Roxy and some of its employees as defendants.
The Roxy then filed a response to the claim in March 2019, pleading that Johnson's intoxicated arrival at the bar was "a result of alcohol he consumed at Kingston, Studio and Relish, prior to his arrival at Roxy."
In 2020, Johnson filed an application to add Relish and Studio as defendants. The April 22 decision also added the Kingston as a defendant.
The allegations in the lawsuit have not yet been proven in court.