SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - The plaintiff was drunk and unruly, the security company of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers says in court documents as it fights an assault lawsuit brought by Rams fan Robert Delker.
Delker says he was wearing the jersey of the visiting Los Angeles Rams at a game in 2020, resulting in good-natured teasing and one incident of a 49ers fan hitting the plaintiff in the back of the head on purpose.
Delker says he didn't retaliate but 49ers security guards overreacted. Landmark Event Staffing Services and Forty Niners Stadium Management Company dispute that version of events in a Feb. 1 filing in Santa Clara Superior Court.
"Plaintiff's case arose after he became intoxicated and unruly at a 49er football game at Levi's Stadium," the defendants say, adding security officers handed him off to Santa Clara police officers after escorting him to the concourse.
"In Plaintiff's drunken and incoherent state, he resisted arrest. When one of the Santa Clara police officers tried to bring Plaintiff down to the ground, the officer inadvertently let Plaintiff's head hit the concrete and Plaintiff sustained a small laceration."
The filing involves whether Delker's lawyers can depose the Landmark security officers. Landmark says it disclosed their identities long ago and the plaintff failed to schedule a deposition until it was too late.
The case is scheduled for a Feb. 14 trial.
According to the suit, for unknown reasons, 49ers security guards approached the plaintiff when the game was nearly over with intent to remove him from the stands. Plaintiff complied but filmed the encounter since it was unclear why he was being removed.
The plaintiff accuses the security guards of trying to snatch his phone away, which was caught on camera by a family member of the plaintiff. Delker's hands were placed behind his back and, while he was being escorted from the stadium, he was allegedly knocked unconscious and awoke with his face pressed into the concrete and blood streaming from a head wound.
The lawsuit says that a bystander witnessed 49ers security kneeing plaintiff in the back of the head. Delker suffered a concussion as a result of the encounter and was taken to the hospital via ambulance from Levi's Stadium, the suit says.
Delker charges the 49ers and other defendants with assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest without warrant, theft, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent hiring, retention and supervision. He requests the court grant damages for medical expenses, loss of wages and other punitive judgements.
The plaintiff is represented by Ratner Molineaux LLP.