Bar loses appeal in attack on customer from 2006

BAD AXE, Mich. (AP) -- A bar in Michigan's Thumb can't shed responsibility for an attack on a Detroit-area hunter who was beaten unconscious after a friend danced with another man's wife, the state appeals court said last Friday. The court refused to overturn a jury verdict that found Longshot Lanes 45 percent liable for Carl Schnorr's injuries. His jaw was wired shut for four months after the December 2006 attack, and he had seven metal plates and 35 screws placed in his head. The 40-year-old Macomb County man said he was punched and repeatedly kicked outside the Bad Axe bar when he tried to help his friend, who was being dragged out by bouncers around last call. Schnorr sued the bar, claiming it was negligent because it had failed to quickly contact police when there was an earlier confrontation on the dance floor. The bar's appeal centered on the judge's decision to let the case go to the jury. Longshot Lanes had asked Huron County Judge M. Richard Knoblock to rule in its favor, claiming police would not have prevented Schnorr's injuries because everything happened so fast. The appeals court, however, said it was proper to let the jury decide the case. "There was a question of fact regarding whether any of Longshot Lanes' employees ever called the police, and, if they did, when the call was made," the court said. After last year's trial, Schnorr's attorney, John Perrin, said the jury had awarded his client nearly $300,000. Responsibility for that amount is roughly shared by Longshot Lanes and Jason Krause, who was accused of attacking Schnorr and found to be 40 percent at fault. The jury said Schnorr was 15 percent responsible for what happened. Published: Tue, Aug 9, 2011