A bartender who was stabbed repeatedly by a patron she refused to serve is now suing the bar where she worked at the time.
Rebecca Schaefer was stabbed multiple times by James Klingbeil with a filet knife. Schaefer was hospitalized with serious, but not life-threatening wounds after the incident at Lana’s Red Lion in Indian Rocks Beach.
Klingbeil was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year. But Schaefer is suing the bar because she says they did not do enough to stop the attack from happening or intervene during the attack.
According to the lawsuit, Schaefer says Klingbeil “had been ejected from the premises on multiple occasions…including the night before.” She refused to serve him because he was already intoxicated.
It was then Klingbeil reportedly left the bar and walked to a nearby convenient store where he purchased a filet knife. He returned to the bar and attacked Schaefer.
According to the lawsuit, staff at the establishment did nothing to intervene in the attack. Instead, three patrons came to Schaefer’s rescue. The three each suffered injuries. Two had stab or laceration wounds while the third was punched in the face.
Owners and managers of bars and nightclubs are encouraged to “cut off” drunk patrons. Some establishments have been sued in cases where a customer leaves drunk and later gets into an accident or commits a crime.
Those establishments can be held financially liable in a civil suit for not cutting the drunk off.
However, Schaefer’s attack shows what can go wrong when bartenders do opt to stop serving someone who is visibly intoxicated.
While the Red Lion is being sued for not doing something about this particular customer sooner, he was ultimately kicked out of the bar. Now the bar’s owner is being sued anyway.
And for bartenders aware of Schaefer’s attack, it leaves them worrying whether or not an angry drunk could return for vengeance after being cut off.
