How Not To Get Sued — Or, at Least, How to Mitigate the Losses By Joel Feigeheimer Ph.D., Assistant Professor The Chaplin School of Hospitality Florida International University joel@realeats.org Training, Training, Training! I have enjoyed working in many facets of the restaurant and hospitality business over the years, from dishwasher to owner operator and now as a professor and an expert hospitality witness. What is an expert hospitality witness, you ask? I am the guy that gets hired by the attorneys and/or the insurance companies to assist in either prosecuting or defending restaurant 20 2
in the Mix Magazine
operators and hoteliers in common lawsuits such as slip-and-falls and liquor liability, which are the two largest portions of my expert consultant business. Every single case is different, and they each have their own unique circumstances that brought the litigants into this position where they need to go to court to hammer out some agreement. I have, however, noticed many similarities in the cases as they are brought against operators, and in the way that operators can best ensure the safety of their guests as well as obtain release from negligence claims stemming from whatever issue occurred at their property. In our business, which includes hopefully many people eating, drinking responsibly
