Woman files $5M lawsuit over attack in pizza shop
A 34-year-old Homestead woman who was attacked last month by a manager at Pizza Milano sued the manager and the company Monday for more than $5 million.
The lawsuit springs from a Jan. 12 altercation captured on video, in which the manager, Mahmut Yilmaz, 41, of Westwood, confronts Jade Martin as she enters Pizza Milano on Fifth Avenue in Uptown. He is seen pushing her, throwing her to the ground and apparently slamming her head against the floor before other employees pull him away.
Both Mr. Yilmaz and Ms. Martin face criminal charges connected to the incident — he is charged with aggravated assault and she is charged with trespassing. Mr. Yilmaz said Ms. Martin was loud and disruptive; she said she just wanted to use the restaurant’s restroom.
Ms. Martin is still recovering from the attack and suffers from headaches, vision problems,
memory loss and post-concussion syndrome, her attorney, George Kontos, said in the lawsuit filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
The lawsuit asks for more than $35,000 in compensatory damages and at least $5 million in punitive damages. Mr. Kontos said he believes the punitive damages are warranted because the company failed to properly vet and train Mr. Yilmaz and did not have policies in place to guide the removal of a person from the restaurant.
“Our purpose is to see that Jade is compensated for her physical and emotional injuries,” Mr. Kontos said. “And also hold the corporation accountable as well.”
Ms. Martin sat with Mr. Kontos and her criminal defense attorney, Kenneth Haber, during a news conference Monday and teared up as her attorneys discussed the incident. She did not speak, but Mr. Haber said she is trying to return to normal life.
“She doesn’t want to be here,” he said. “She’s a victim and no one wants to embrace the role of victim. The only thing a victim can do if you want to make yourself right or whole is to go through the legal process.”
An employee who answered the phone Monday at Pizza Milano declined to comment on the lawsuit and hung up when a reporter asked to speak to a manager.
It’s the second lawsuit that Mr. Kontos has filed against Pizza Milano in the past five months, court records show. In September, he sued the company on behalf of Ashley Tait, whose mother, Carol Tait, 51, of Bellevue, was hit and killed by a vehicle driven by a Pizza Milano deliveryman in February 2016.
The lawsuit avers that the delivery driver, Steven Krenke, then 28, was driving under the influence of a controlled substance and on a suspended license.
The suit alleges that the restaurant failed to vet Mr. Krenke or check his criminal history and says the company should have known Mr. Krenke had a suspended license and a history of heroin abuse. It asks for compensatory damages in excess of $35,000.
Mr. Krenke died in August 2016 at the age of 29.
Mr. Kontos said the two incidents suggest Pizza Milano has a “disregard” for the safety of its patrons and members of the public.
“It is astounding that someone would act with that much recklessness toward members of the public with what their employees are doing,” he said.
“Our purpose is to see that Jade is compensated for her physical and emotional injuries. And also hold the corporation accountable as well.” — George Kontos, Jade Martin's attorney