Austin man sues date for texting during movie for the amount of $17.31

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ROUND ROCK
A man is suing a Round Rock woman for texting during a movie date at the Barton Creek Square theater, according to a petition filed in small claims court in Travis County.

Brandon Vezmar, 37, of Austin filed the claim Thursday against his date. He is asking for $17.31, which was the price of the movie ticket to a 3D showing of “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2,” he told the American-Statesman Tuesday.

The 35-year-old woman, reached by phone Tuesday, said she didn’t know about the claim against her. She asked that her name not be used.

“Oh my God,” she said. “This is crazy.”

Vezmar, who has his own communications consulting company, said he met the woman online and went with her on their first date May 6 to the movie.

“It was kind of a first date from hell,” he said. About 15 minutes after the movie began, Vezmar said, his date started texting on her phone. “This is like one of my biggest pet peeves.”

In the petition, Vezmar said the woman “activated her phone at least 10-20 times in 15 minutes to read and send text messages.”

Vezmar said he asked her to stop but she refused. He said he told her that maybe she could go outside to text. She left the theater and never came back, Vezmar said.

She also left in her car, which they had driven to the theater, leaving Vezmar without a ride, he said. He said he texted her a few days later asking for the price of the ticket but she refused to pay it.

The woman said Tuesday she only texted on her phone in the theater two or three times.

“I had my phone low and I wasn’t bothering anybody,” she said. She was texting a friend, who was having a fight with her boyfriend, she said. “It wasn’t like constant texting.”

She said Vezmar had called her to ask her to pay him back for the movie ticket but she refused because “he took me out on a date.”

She said she also planned to file a protective order against Vezmar for contacting her little sister to get the money for the movie ticket.

According to the petition, the texting was a “direct violation” of the theater’s policy and that his date “adversely” affected Vezmar’s viewing experience and that of other patrons.

“While damages sought are modest, the principle is important as defendant’s behavior is a threat to civilized society,” the petition said.

“I’m not a bad woman,” the woman told the Statesman. “I just went out on a date.”

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