Benihana shrimp toss cited in death
The first piece of shrimp hit Jerry Colaitis' brother-in-law square in the forehead, attorney Andre Ferenzo told a jury yesterday in State Supreme Court in Mineola.
The next one scorched the arm of Colaitis' son.
So when Colaitis looked up from his dinner at the Benihana restaurant in Munsey Park to see a third sizzling-hot shrimp sailing at his head, he jerked his neck away, Ferenzo said.
That violent motion wrenched Colaitis' neck and led, less than a year later, to the 43-year-old's death, said Ferenzo, a Roslyn lawyer representing Colaitis' estate. Now, about four years later, Colaitis' family hopes to win more than $10 million in damages for pain and suffering, lost earning potential and wrongful death.
But Charles Connick, a Mineola lawyer for the Benihana chain, said it's unlikely a chef who works for tips would toss food at customers after being asked not to, as Ferenzo claimed. And even so, he said the cause of Colaitis' death was an infection unrelated to the shrimp or a neck injury.
"The evidence will show that the manner of death was natural," said Connick.
Ferenzo said none of it would have happened without the shrimp.
"We're talking about pieces of cooked food thrown directly at people who are eating dinner in the restaurant," Ferenzo said in his opening statement.
In his opening statement, Ferenzo said Colaitis had gone to Benihana - known for its table-side chefs, who serve up theatrics alongside teriyaki - for his son's birthday.
Not long after leaving the restaurant, Colaitis began to feel pain in his neck and later went to see a chiropractor, Ferenzo said. When the pain didn't subside, he went to see three neurosurgeons, he said.
Colaitis underwent neck surgery at NYU Medical Center in Manhattan in June 2001. On Nov. 21, Colaitis checked into St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn with a 104-degree fever, Ferenzo said, and the following day, he died. The cause of death was sepsis, a severe infection.
Ferenzo said some chefs at Benihana abandoned tamer tricks, like flipping shrimp tails into their apron pockets, about 1998, when a Jackie Chan movie came out featuring a "mild-mannered chef who cooks up his own recipe for justice." Instead, they took to flipping the food directly at the customers, Ferenzo said.
But Connick said customers often enjoy having food tossed their way.
"Some customers, especially dads and sons, want to catch the food," he said. "The evidence will show that it was part of the show."
for a smart New York jury.