Stewing for months over a bar room closing-time brawl last year that resulted — for him — in a courtroom rendering that he termed “a joke,” City Councilman Mehaul O’Leary has filed a civil suit against the man whom he said assaulted him in his own Irish pub, causing him to be hospitalized for nine days “with brain damage.”
According to court records, Mr. O’Leary is seeking to recover nearly $1 million in an action filed last March 30 against Robert Anthony Singerman of Culver City, described at the time as an occasional patron of Joxer Daly’s on Washington Boulevard.
The Councilman’s suit claims that when Mr. Singerman, 29 years old, “sought to buy a drink after the time for service had passed” and was rejected “due to his unruly and drunken behavior,” he “attacked” Mr. O’Leary. The Councilman, who acknowledged he, too, had been drinking, portrayed himself as “peacefully” trying to “quash the dispute” before being punched in the face”… “sustaining facial, neck, eye, nasal and back injuries.”
Does This Portend a Settlement?
“He could have killed me,” the 45-year-old Mr. O’Leary told the newspaper yesterday. Contrary to the exotic dollar figure, though, he insisted he was agreeable to settling for a fraction of a million, in the general region of $135,000, covering insurance costs and his own out-of-pocket expenses.
“I only want the money I have expended personally, $15,000 in personal bills,” the Councilman said. “And the insurance company is jumping on top of that. Whatever the attorney decides is the amount, it will be to pay him, pay the insurance company and pay me my $15,000. I don’t need any extra money. I just want my money back.
“He caused this, unwarranted, and I want to be repaid.”
The Singerman camp reacted with interest. “If Mr. O’Leary desires to resolve his civil claims without burdening the court system with delays and unnecessary attorneys’ fees and costs,” said a woman familiar with the case, “Mr. Singerman is willing to participate in a mediation in front of a retired judge in a good-faith attempt to resolve this matter.”
A close friend of Mr. Singerman told the newspaper that “this was an unfortunate encounter for both parties. Mr. Singerman has learned a hard lesson. Now his life is moving in a positive and productive direction.” A bridegroom a month ago, he is working in the construction industry, holding down two jobs. Ironically, although the suit had been filed almost four months earlier, Mr. Singerman was not served with the papers until the week of his wedding. “We couldn’t find him,” Mr. O’Leary asserted, adding that the defendant was served while gift shopping.
Teaching and Learning and Teaching and Learning
As Mr. O’Leary reflected on the late-night scuffle of Aug. 9 last year that led Mr. Singerman to plead no-contest on Nov. 20 to a reduced misdemeanor charge of simple battery, he was bristlingly unhappy with the denouement. He said several times he wanted to “teach a lesson” to Mr. Singerman, who was sentenced to two years summary probation and ordered not to come within 100 yards of the Councilman or his business.
One of Mr. Singerman’s oldest pals bristled back at the Councilman. “Mr. O’Leary, as a businessman and a member of the City Council, was a willing combatant,” the gentleman said. “He must assume some responsibility for this incident.
“Many believe that but for Mr. O’Leary being a Councilman, the authorities would have ignored this incident as just another bar-room fight.”
On the contrary, Mr. O’Leary claims he was the clear-cut victim. He remains disgusted that his assailant, in his perception, got off lightly. “The criminal case was a joke,” he said. “A hundred dollars in damages. Are you kidding me? And he got away with a misdemeanor instead of a felony? It was a bait-and-switch on the day, a joke. This has been a complete joke. He might have got away with almost killing me.
“It will come out in court. It is so hurtful. I know it has been a year. I have got to take care of my business. I just want my money back. I want my $15,000 that I could have used in my ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lawsuit that has me on the border here with my bar, my business, my livelihood. It has gone into a whirlwind of other things.”
Mr. O’Leary’s lawsuit identified four separate categories of damages:
• $500,000, punitive damages.
• $275,000, pain, suffering and inconvenience.
•$117,500, medical expenses to date.
• $50,000, future medical expenses.
Total: $942,500.
“I have other damages I could sue for,” Mr. O’Leary said. “I was out of my business for three months. My business went down. Yeah, there was the economy. But there was me not being in charge. I could put a dollar amount on that. I don’t care.”
Has the Councilman’s pub recovered?
“Yes, it is coming back nicely,” he said. “But that’s because I am pro-active. I am involved personally. This is my 11th year. I used to joke about the fact that bars were recession-proof. But I have lost customers because they lost jobs. While I lost those customers, I gained customers who were going out to dinner twice a week and instead came out for a snack and a beer, a lower-price deal.
“But I am upset because I was knocked out of my business at a time when I needed to be here most.”
While the fight occurred on Aug. 9, Mr. O’Leary said that he was sidelined for five months. “I don’t think I really got back until the new year hit,” he said. “I needed to refocus. I wasn’t able to focus on my business. This is a brain injury. I didn’t understand my own injury very well. My health (now) is back to normal, whatever normal is.”
Is the Councilman facing any medical restrictions?
“I am not interested,” he said, “even if the doctor was going to give me restrictions, not interested.”
Any lessons to be drawn from the incident?
“Yeah. I probably shouldn’t, or I should allow my staff to take care of what they are paid to take care of. There are lessons, but I will talk about them later.”
Before returning to work, Mr. O’Leary attached the following coda:
“I want this guy to realize he hurt someone very badly. It could have been worse. I could have died. If he is now moving on, and he has got married, going to have a wife and family, he needs to realize that is not the way to solve personal issues with somebody. If this is a lesson to him, I hope he learns it well.
“My father always said, ‘Never pay for experience too dearly.’ I was lucky. And he has a lesson now.”
