Non-Drinking Designated Driver Kicked Out Of Bar

CBS4 ^ | 2/7/07 | Staff

[Millee]

A Florida man is planning to file a discrimination lawsuit against a Pinellas Park bar, not because he drank too much but because he drank too little.

Gary Maujean was inside Claire’s Lounge with his wife and friends but he wasn’t drinking alcohol, only soda, because he was their designated driver.

He claims he was penalized for trying to do the right thing and says the owner and a bouncer threw him out of the bar for not drinking alcohol. His attorney said the bar's owner grabbed Maujean, slammed his head against a door and forced him out of the facility. Attorney Tom Carey said Maujean was injured and required more than a dozen stitches.

The bar tells a different story and claims he didn’t order anything at all.

Now the issue is taking on a life of it's own as Florida lawmakers are considering a bill regarding the matter.

Florida Senate Majority Whip Mike Fasano has written a bill which would ban bar owners from kicking out customers who don't drink because they're designated drivers. The legislation would also ban bar from refusing to serve customers based on such factors as their race, sex, religion, and nation origin.

[L98Fiero]

"You cannot just randomly pick out someone who is not harassing your customers or staff and throw them out."

Then essentially, it's not your business. If somebody is taking up space in my place reserved for a paying customer, I'll give them the boot. I'm in business to make money, not out of some obligation or agreement to provide some "public accomodation". It's my credit, my money, and my time invested, not the government's.

"No shoes, no shirt," etc. is a health concern and need not be posted anywhere that I'm aware of. If a health inspector walks in your restaurant and sees a customer without shoes, you are likely getting hit with a violation.

None of that is the issue here, though. The issue is some goof writing a law because some guy got thrown out of a bar.

[wideawake]

Correct. But this individual was apparently not loitering, but was part of a larger party that was buying drinks.

It puts me in my mind of the time that I went out to dinner with some work colleagues accompanied by a Jewish colleague who kept strict kosher. He ordered nothing, while the rest of us had a meal.

Imagine how bizarre it would have been if the restaurant's manager had said - "if he doesn't order anything I want him out of here!"

[L98Fiero]

"The restaurant was way out of line here!"

So more laws should be passed? The actions of the restaurant is not the story here.

[CT-Freeper]

There has to be more to the story that isn't being reported.

Most of the bars I frequent are more than happy to provide water or soft drinks to people who claim to be designated drivers - sometimes even free of charge.

I don't see how a barkeep in his right mind would not allow a group's designated driver to stick around. If DDs weren't allowed, imagine the liability that the bar would face if people in that group were involved in an auto accident after leaving the bar.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Then essentially, it's not your business. If somebody is taking up space in my place reserved for a paying customer, I'll give them the boot.

It says he was there with his wife and friends who seem to have been drinking. The bar owner was a damn fool to throw out one person in a party of many. I can only hope my competitors all think like you.

[NonValueAdded]

Hmmm ... in a few months might the bar reopen as Gary's Old Town Tavern?

[passionfruit]

Actually a new law may be in order here. I expect the government to protect me from drunk drivers. Having a designated driver is a good thing, and in this case the restaurant evicted the designated driver, apparently with the intent to have him leave, and let one of the members of the party that had been drinking do the driving.

[jocon307]

"It puts me in my mind of the time that I went out to dinner with some work colleagues accompanied by a Jewish colleague who kept strict kosher. He ordered nothing, while the rest of us had a meal."

A very good example of a similar situation that occurs often.

Either there is more to this story, or the people running this bar were way out of line.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Does every single incident that happens require new legislation????

Apparently. Sometimes I wonder if these clowns get up in the morning and read the paper looking for dumb ass stories to use as rational for more micro-managing laws.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The guy couldn't have bought just one beer and then sipped on it or held it for the rest of the night?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Most of the bars I frequent are more than happy to provide water or soft drinks to people who claim to be designated drivers - sometimes even free of charge.

The bars here in Green Bay give you free taxi rides home.

[absolootezer0]

STUPID bar.
DDs that come into my bar get free sodas- because usually the other people they're with are spending lots of money to get drunk, and they'll most likely be back again the next weekend.
this bar is lucky they aren't facing a second suit filed because one of the drunk ones got into an accident after leaving.

[absolootezer0]

I expect the government to protect me from drunk drivers.

has the government lowering the legal BAC limits to a ridiculously low levels stopped people from driving drunk?
there's no law that will ever "protect" you from drunk drivers.

[andrew2527]

It would be bizarre, but not out of the question. Within the last year my girlfriend and I went to a hibachi style Japanese steakhouse. A friend joined us for a drink, and then was informed that since he was not eating, he would have to incur an eight dollar "seating fee."