A Dallas judicial district court judge recently sided with a woman who sued a pizza restaurant for sexual assault and awarded her more than $16 million in damages.
Dallas County 193rd District Court Judge Carl Ginsberg issued a final judgment on July 28 ordering defendants Pastazios Pizza, Inc. and Ajredin “Danny” Deari to pay the unnamed woman $16,432,336.83, according to court records.
Jane Doe initiated legal action on Apr. 24, 2013, claiming she went to interview for a job at Pastazios in Addison only to be raped by Deari, one of the eatery’s owners, at a nearby hotel.
The original petition asserted that Deari and others forced Doe, who had just graduated valedictorian of her high school class, though she was not of legal age to consume alcohol. It added the then-18-year-old plaintiff contracted herpes from Deari as a result of the attack.
“The plaintiff has foreseeably suffered through, and will continue to suffer through, extreme emotional distress, pain and suffering, and mental anguish as the sexual assault is constantly replayed in her mind and the aftermath displayed on her body,” the complaint said.
A Dallas County jury heard the two-year-old lawsuit early last month and determined the events were no fault of the complainant’s.
Attorney Trey H. Crawford of the law firm Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail Shank LLP in Dallas represented Doe.
Dallas County 193rd District Court Case No. DC-13-04564