Brun v. Caruso

Northeast Restaurant Corporation (Northeast) and Bickford’s Family Restaurants, Inc. (Bickford’s) (defendants) entered into a franchise agreement. Bickford’s licensed its trademark and name to Northeast in the operation of a restaurant, so long as the restaurant adhered to Bickford’s requirements for matters such as the building design and layout, menus, and recipes. Bickford’s did not control the restaurant’s day-to-day activities, hiring or firing, or personnel decisions, nor did Bickford’s assume any responsibility for the restaurant’s operational costs. Rather, Bickford’s merely provided Northeast with some off-site accounting functions, as well as a product manual concerning food quality and consistency. Steven Caruso (defendant) was a regular customer of the restaurant for many years. Caruso even performed handyman work for the restaurant. Notwithstanding, Caruso had a history of harassing servers at the restaurant, which persisted despite the servers’ repeated complaints to Northeast’s management. In 1997, Caruso’s harassment targeted a server named Sandra Berfield. What began as a preference to sit in Berfield’s section escalated into stalking after Berfield declined Caruso’s date invitation. Northeast’s management had a meeting with Caruso in which the restaurant banned Caruso from sitting in Berfield’s section and from staring at Berfield. Thereafter, Caruso went to Berfield’s apartment, slashed her vehicle’s tires, and poured battery acid into Berfield’s vehicle, which resulted in Caruso’s incarceration for a period. The restaurant had not permitted Caruso onto the premises for 15 months. Nevertheless, in 2000, the harassment culminated in Berfield’s death caused by a package bomb left by Caruso outside of Berfield’s apartment. Robert F. Brun (plaintiff), as administrator of Berfield’s estate, brought a wrongful-death action against Caruso, as well as against Northeast and Bickford for failing to provide a secure workplace. Northeast and Bickford moved for summary judgment.