UNION CITY, N.J. – A Hudson County, New Jersey jury awarded Peter Casbar, 43, and Noel Robichaux, $3.15m in compensatory and punitive damages after they testified that the store manager and a group of angry restaurant employees chased them out of the restaurant and then kicked, beat and spat upon the two men while screaming anti-gay insults in 2007, following a dispute over a wrong order at a local Burger King.
A jury, which began hearing the 17- count case earlier this month filed under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, just awarded them $3.15 million, which includes $1.7 in punitive damages; the couple’s attorney did not specific how much money they were seeking.
The defendants were Food Service Properties Corp. and Union City Restaurant Corp., which owned the Burger King franchise location, and not the fast food giant.
Angel Caraballo and Christopher Soto, two employees involved in the attack, had already pleaded guilty of aggravated assault. Miami-based Burger King Corporation, themselves, were not named in the suit.