The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

In Nashville, Tennessee, there is a bar called the Coyote Ugly Saloon. It is part of a chain featured in a 2000 movie about a similar bar in New York. The Coyote Ugly saloons invite patrons to dance on the bar.

In September of 2008, one Brittany Barnes, a college student from Kentucky, was out on the town in Nashville with some friends. They had dinner and then went on a tour of downtown bars, ending up at Coyote Ugly. When an employee invited patrons near the end of the evening to dance on the bar, Barnes got up there to pose for a photograph with her friends, but fell backwards and struck her head on the ground. An ambulance took her to a nearby hospital where she was treated for a brain injury.

A Premises Liability Charge

Now Barnes is suing the Coyote Ugly chain for negligence in allowing the bar to be wet and slippery. She is asking for $500,000 because she claims that she has lost her sense of smell. She apparently has no other residual injury from that fall. Her lawyer, one Rob Shelton, states that the bar has “… a duty under Tennessee law to provide a safe place for their patrons” and that if the saloon is going to invite people to dance on the bar, then the bar “should be kept dry just like the floor of the bar or the aisle in a grocery store”.

Defendant Denies Liability

Coyote Ugly states in legal filings that its employees were not negligent, but that Barnes was careless when she climbed on to the bar. Barnes’ own attorney states that she “had had a few drinks” that night, which would stand to reason since she had visited a series of bars and evidently stayed till closing time at Coyote Ugly. There is no proof at this point that the bar was indeed wet or slippery – that is just the claim of this plaintiff who refers to the “wet and slick bar” in her filing.

Coyote Ugly’s attorney has not made any statements about this case other than to say that the bar is denying any liability. A week ago, some signs were posted at that bar saying “Attention ladies, dance on the bar at your own risk”.

Somewhere there is a line between adult responsibility and true premises liability. Time will tell where the judge and jury in this case place that line.

If you would like to discuss your own slip and fall accident with one of our personal injury lawyers, please contact us today for a free case review. We have offices nationwide.

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