Court overturns ruling in fight over virgin Bloody Mary at Ocean Casino Resort
ATLANTIC CITY - A casino patron who won a court fight over olives in his cocktail has been skewered on appeal.
John Longinetti filed a small-claims complaint against Ocean Casino Resort in June 2022, after he broke a tooth on an unpitted olive in a virgin Bloody Mary at the Boardwalk gaming hall.
A judge at that time awarded Longinetti more than $1,500 for dental expenses, accepting his argument that an OCR bartender was at fault.
But the casino operator kept fighting, and now an appeals court has overturned Longinetti's win.
Class action suit demands more than $5M Lawsuit seek payout for guests, gamblers after hack at Caesars Entertainment
In his small-claims complaint, Longinetti contended OCR typically served his drink, a virgin Bloody Mary, with a skewer that held pitted olives stuffed with pimentos.
How did a virgin Bloody Mary cause a court fight?
He received a drink with loose olives — and broke his tooth biting down on one with a pit — while playing slot machines on the casino floor in March 2022.
"I find there was negligence," said the lower-court judge, who was not named in the appellate decision.
"Evidently — and I learned something about (Bloody Marys) but evidently they are made with skewers and this one somehow the bartender missed it," the judge said.
But the appellate decision said Longinetti's testimony was the only evidence presented that OCR always served his drink with skewered, pitted olives.
The two-judge panel, ruling on OCR's appeal, also noted a lack of evidence "that a virgin Bloody Mary can be safely prepared only through the use of skewered, pitted olives."
And it said Longinetti, a Little Egg Harbor resident, "appears to have assumed the risk" when he poured the olives into his mouth and bit down.
Consequently, it said, the trial judge had no basis to conclude OCR had a legal obligation to use skewered, pitted olives.
An attorney for OCR, which had suggested Longinetti pursue his claim with its olive supplier, could not be reached for comment on the Jan. 11 decision.
Longinetti, who has represented himself in court, said he's "disappointed in the appeals court ruling but not discouraged.
"I plan to appeal their decision," he said.
"The only winners in this case are the attorneys for the defendant, Ocean Casino," he aserted "I imagine they will bill the Ocean five or six times the amount of the original small claims court award."
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Court ruling is the pits for casino patron upset with a drink's olive
