Woman Awarded over $100,000 After Being Hit by 'Spicy' Sauced Spaghetti
A jury has awarded $103,000 to a woman after she was hit by a bowl of spicy pasta thrown by a man during an argument in a Connecticut restaurant.
The negligence and battery suit was settled on May 31 after the jury ruled in favor of Constance Koulmey.
Woodbury, Connecticut, resident Koulmey was the unintended target of the pasta attack, but was hit while walking to the exit of the restaurant.
In 2015, Spring Lake, New Jersey, resident and attorney James Sweeney was in a heated argument with another man in the restaurant when he threw the “steaming hot” bowl of pasta and sauce but missed.
According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Law Tribune, Sweeney was intoxicated when he picked up “a bowl or dish full of pasta with fra diavolo sauce and threw it…”
It was then that Koulmey was making her way to the exit.
“(S)uddenly and without warning the pasta with hot and spicy fra diavolo sauce… struck her about the head and face causing the spicy sauce to drip down her head, onto her face and into her eyes and further causing her to fall striking her head,” the suit says.
The lawsuit claims negligence on Sweeney’s part for failing to warn others that he was about to throw the pasta, for failing to conduct himself in an orderly manner, and for failing to remove himself from the situation instead of tossing the spicy pasta.
The result of Sweeney’s negligence includes injuries to Koulmey including a head injury with a resulting concussion, eye pain due to the spicy sauce getting into her eyes, daily back pain from falling, elevated blood pressure, and emotional upset — “some or all of which may be permanent in nature.”
The count of battery is largely a result of Sweeney intentionally throwing the plate in the first place, causing further injuries to Koulmey both permanent and otherwise.
“From all of said injuries, the plaintiff, Constance Koulmey, has suffered and will continue to suffer great pain and mental anguish,” the suit says.
“Said injuries includes the bones, glands, blood vessels, ligaments, soft tissues, tendons, cartilage, and nerves of the injured parts.”
Sweeney denied causing any injury to Koulmey, but did admit to throwing the bowl of spicy pasta.
According to the Connecticut Law Tribune, he was ordered by a jury to pay Koulmey $103,000.
Criminal charges against the New Jersey residents were dismissed.
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