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Biglaw Partner's Lawsuit Over A Restaurant Bill Raises More Questions Than Answers

This is why people hate lawyers.

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Romantic dinner in a restaurantIn a live chat with Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema, an anonymous user, claiming to be a senior partner at “one of the DC areas [sic] largest litigation firm which is also one of the best,” boasted of a litigation he anticipates will take down a restaurant.

Let’s set the stage:

Girlfriend and I dined at one of the restaurants on your top 10 list [of DC restaurants]. They asked for a credit card at time of reservation. I gave. We showed up for dinner and with drinks, wine, appetizers, main course and dessert and lets not forget dropped $500. Great until I get my Amex Black Card statement and see two charges from same restaurant. Our dinner and then another charge. I call and its because we ‘No Showed”. I asked them to double check and emailed a copy of the bill. Disputed with Amex. Amex refused to remove charge since this restaurant insists we didnt show despite the $500 charge on my Amex for dinner. I am the senior partner for one of the DC areas largest litigation firm which is also one of the best. Despite at least 20 attempts to resolve we go to court in April. I have countersued. This will not be settled. I fully expect to receive low 7 figures in my countersuit and I will drive this restaurant, its partners, and investors all into Chap 7.

Seems strange, right? Like if all these facts are true, a reasonable restaurant — and the credit card company for that matter — would obviously have resolved the matter well before court. Well, you aren’t alone in being skeptical, Sietsema is similarly baffled by the situation and other members of the chat suggested the original poster could be a hoax:

Needless to say, I’m … fascinated. And confused, because clearly, you ate and drank and paid for the evening. I don’t understand why the restaurant *and* Amex don’t see that. What am I missing?

Also… what attorney “fully expect[s]” a $500 credit card charge (which was the cost of the dinner, the no-show charge was likely less) will result in a million dollar+ verdict? It’s stuff like this that gets people all fired up about trial lawyers. And why the glee in potentially putting a fancy restaurant in bankruptcy? Did they also stab your mom when they refused to refund your money? Is business so slow that it’s a smart choice to spend the time and effort to take a restaurant to court over a few hundred dollars? Just write a scathing Yelp review and be on your way. Time is money (especially when you bill by the hour), and if the OP is truly a bigtime lawyer, the relatively small amount of money this has cost is hardly worth the time.

This is why, despite the cultural moment lawyers are having, everyone loves to hate the profession.

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Ask Tom: Rants, raves and questions on the DC dining scene [Washington Post]

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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