re: ESPN Story on the Teabagger!

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I understand that. I was being facetious with you saying $5,000, which is too low. I'm sorry, but a good lawyer will find plenty of damages from a sexual assault that ended in the victim being exposed to the public, all of it happening in a place of business with employees not doing anything to intervene.

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1st, no one is condoning what Downing did or belittling the fact that Garrison was a victim. I'm sure we all think Downing is scum. And I appreciate the open discussion we're having here on the practicalities of this case.

You're correct that this case may be worth more than $5k. But I never said that. I stated that's what I'd offer if I were in the Downing camp. I think that's a reasonable starting point.

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a good lawyer will find plenty of damages from a sexual assault that ended in the victim being exposed to the public, all of it happening in a place of business with employees not doing anything to intervene.

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Maybe, but that's a pretty broad statement. I've followed this case and while I respect your opinion, I as a trial attorney with experience in civil suits just don't see it given the current facts we have.

We can talk about this all day long and how the facts could lessen the actual damages the victim received here. Though, again, I'm not making light of what the victim endured here, you're going to find that the currect facts just aren't "plenty" to support a large verdict in a legal action (and note again, I'm on Garrison's side here and not making light of the situation):

1. Garrison was passed out. This actually matters, re: his suffering. He didn't experience any of it by his own admission. He was unconscious the entire time and had no idea the incident even took place until he saw it 1 week later on the internet. He was embarrassed after the incident.

2. Again, you say he has damages. But what are they? He was embarrassed (we'd all be). Did it cause him to drop out of school? Maybe on the surface. A few posters here have wondered if he's using it as an excuse b/c he's failing out. It's just conjecture. No one knows, but this is the type of material that will come out in discovery.

Did he seek counseling? I think we can surmise he hasn't yet. And I can all but assure you it would have been reported in that espn article. In fact, that reporter would have been drooling to include something like that in the story. We can make an educated guess that he didn't. And for this case to be worth good $$$ on a mental anguish claim, he would have had to have some counseling or something similar. Period. No way around it.

3.

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all of it happening in a place of business with employees not doing anything to intervene.

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This is where PL attys go for those deep pockets. I haven't heard much of anything out of the Krystal camp on this incident. I haven't rewatched the video since Jan/Feb, but just did again. You only see the Krystal worker again at the end after Downey was pretty much finished with his teabagging. The worker starts walking to the counter and disappears out of the frame. That alone is beyond insufficient to implicate Krystal. I'm sure this worker may be deposed and he's going to say 1 of a couple of things. "I saw people cheering but didn't see the teabagging act." "I saw it and went straight to tell my manager." Either way, the teabagging pretty much stopped after the worker left the video. It would have been different if the harassment continued and no Krystal worker intervened. (note: I have no idea if the worker went to tell his superiors. But you don't know he didn't either).

I'm not saying his "mental anguish" is worth $0. It's worth something. He just isn't "gettin paid" like some people think/hope.