Will they ever see the money though?
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: It’s the stuff of Bollywood films: a girl accompanied by a male companion goes for a night out on the town, is harassed and assaulted by inebriated goons at a dance club; the companion intervenes, who is then ganged upon, chased down and beaten by the goons to near death.
That’s what happened to the siblings Arti Sapra and Anuj Sapra on the night of January 8, 2005 when they went to a friend’s party at the gentleman’s club Club 9 ½, owned by Ten’s Cabaret, in Manhattan (located at East 21st Street between Park Avenue and Broadway). What was supposed to be celebration morphed into a nightmare.
According to the sequence of events and as recounted in court, a club patron, later identified as Mohammad Abdul-Shakoor, who was underage (below the age of 21) but intoxicated, approached Arti, grabbed her, and asked her to dance. When she refused, Shakoor became irate. Anuj went to her aid.
Upon Anuj approaching Arti, Shakoor was quickly joined by another man, later identified as Mohammad Asif – who was also underage but intoxicated. A scuffle ensued; Anuj was struck by Shakoor and Asif, and pushed down onto a couch.
The club’s security personnel then forcibly removed Anuj, Shakoor and Asif. The bouncers did not contact the police regarding the altercation within the club. They restrained Anuj at the front of the club, while other security personnel escorted Shakoor and Asif elsewhere.
Shortly thereafter, while Anuj was still accompanied by club security personnel, Shakoor appeared directly outside of the club, banging a metal baseball bat against the street. Club security personnel directed Shakoor to stay away, asserting that Shakoor “can’t bring that into the club” and “can’t bring it on this side.” Shakoor, while still carrying the metal bat, got into a Lexus car near the club.
Anuj and Arti attempted to flee from the premises of the club. However, they were chased down by Shakoor and Asif, who were waiting for the duo. They attacked Anuj with metal baseball bats, striking him repeatedly about the head and face. When Arti tried to help her brother, Shakoor struck her with the metal bat on her arm.
Anuj sustained serious injuries, including traumatic brain Injury, skull fractures, facial fractures, internal bleeding, and a fractured hand.
He was saved from death by some New York City police officers, who saw the beating and intervened. Shakoor and Asif were arrested. They were subsequently indicted by a New York County Grand Jury. While Asif was convicted of attempting to murder Anuj around 2006 – but no details have emerged thereafter on his case – Shakoor reportedly fled the country.
And now, more than 10 years after that horrific night which changed the lives of the Sapra siblings, they have been awarded financial compensation too.
The Manhattan Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday compensatory and punitive damages of $8,280,145.43 for Anju Sapra and $643,998.86 for Arti Sapra, against Ten’s Cabaret.
“We are proud to have secured a full measure of justice for our clients, even if it took a long time, and we had to traverse many a legal hurdle to get to this point. We will now start the post-judgment proceedings, itself, yet another odyssey – but justice will be done in full measure,” said attorney Ravi Batra, who represented the siblings in the case.
Batra added: “This case represents the serious fallout of New York clubs regularly serving under-age children excessive amounts of liquor, and such drunken state coupled with immature judgment, becoming a violent trigger for serious injury, or worse, near-death.”
While the judgment of nearly $9 million to the Sapras seems adequate enough justice in the case, it remains to be seen if they ever get hold of the money awarded to them.
In the murky world of clubs in New York City, where many close down after a short period of time, and others come up in their place, with unidentified owners and principals, it would be a hard task to get Ten’s Cabaret to pay up.
According to an August, 2010 report in Crain’s New York, the strip club Ten’s Cabaret filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
“The club failed to pay about $9.8 million in state employment taxes under the previous ownership of Paul Coppa, and has outstanding rent to settle with its landlord, according to the filing. Its current owner is Chris Reda. The club’s only inventory is $20,000 in alcohol,” the report said.
1 Comment
As in a Security and other businesses, it makes sense for these companies to post a bond for Five or Ten Million to the State, before they are given a license. The bond company would have paid the judgement in this case. Without a stringent requirement any one can open a night club and mint money in a short time and take a bankruptcy, as it happened here. Not to mention, many of these are Here Today-Gone Tomorrow kind of outfits.