Judge dismisses lawsuit against Cardinals' Carlos Martinez, calling it 'plain old bar fight'
A civil lawsuit filed by a man who claimed St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez assaulted him outside a St. Louis-area strip club was dismissed on Friday by a federal judge, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
In the lawsuit, St. Louis resident Andrew D’Angelo reportedly alleged that Martinez committed assault, battery, civil conspiracy and in-concert liability during a parking lot fight on July 4, 2014, in which current Cardinals outfielder Marcell Ozuna and late Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras were also involved.
U.S. District Judge J. Phil Gilbert seemed unimpressed with D’Angelo’s argument that he was an innocent victim of a planned attack, per the Post-Dispatch:
"There is simply zero evidence that any of these people agreed, conspired, or planned a common design amongst themselves to carry out an attack on anyone," Gilbert wrote. "Instead, this was a plain old bar fight and other courts agree that conspiracy claims stemming from brawls like this one should not pass the summary judgement stage."
D’Angelo was originally reported to be seeking $100,000 in medical bells for a broken back and “further surgical procedures.”
For his part in the fight, Ozuna reportedly reached a confidential settlement with D’Angelo. None of the players faced criminal charges because local police reportedly said D’Angelo stopped cooperating with them.
What happened in the Cardinals’ strip club brawl?
In his original lawsuit, D’Angelo reportedly alleged that he was drinking at a St. Louis bar when he had a verbal confrontation with a group that included Martinez and Ozuna.
D’Angelo said that he left the bar after the argument and went to the Penthouse Club, which is now known as the Diamond Carbaret. Of course, he alleges he then happened to run into the same group.
Via the Belleville News-Democrat:
Martinez and his group eventually showed up at the same strip club, the suit alleges, unbeknownst to D’Angelo. D’Angelo alleges he walked out of the club and over to a food stand in the parking lot when the group followed him outside. At that point, according to the suit, they “jumped” D’Angelo, knocking him to the ground and beating him.
Let’s just say that cell phone video of that incident didn’t exactly line up with D’Angelo’s account, and he might have had a very good reason for avoiding the police.
Martinez can be seen landing a wild jump-punch around the 0:34 mark of the video as a woman in the background screams “Carlos!”
Of course, that punch wasn’t aimed at D’Angelo, but one Sam Ehlinger, a friend of D’Angelo’s, as this apparently was not a group of athletes “jumping” one person but more of a bar brawl.
At the 0:40 second mark, Ozuna can be seen being pulled away by a security guard as D’Angelo — who, again, received a confidential settlement from Ozuna — follows the outfielder and asks him “Do you want to get shot?” as he reaches behind his waistband.
Judge Gilbert reportedly called that action “something incredibly stupid” in his decision. Ozuna soon broke free and landed a fist on D’Angelo’s face.
For the rest of the video, D’Angelo can be seen profanely berating security, asking for the police and being told he’s only making the situation worse. Gilbert wasn’t sympathetic in his decision:
"When looking at the videotape, no reasonable jury could believe that Martinez ever hit D'Angelo — not to mention that nobody could watch the footage and think that D'Angelo was an innocent victim of a brazen attack," Gilbert wrote.
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