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Woman sues club over stripper's kick

The customer and the club owner have different stories of how her nose was broken by a dancer's high-heeled shoe.

By CHRIS TISCH
Published March 11, 2006

LARGO - A woman is suing a Largo strip club after a pole dancer accidentally kicked her in the face with a high-heeled shoe, breaking her nose.

Jennifer L. Scytkowski, 23, filed the lawsuit against Oz gentlemen's club in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court this week.

She claims she was walking by a side stage when the dancer kicked her, though the club owner disputes that claim. He says Scytkowski hopped onto the stage and was lying on her back when the dancer kicked her while performing a routine.

Either way, while the dancer was spinning around a pole, her high-heeled shoe caught Scytkowski in the corner of her eye and broke her nose, said her attorney, Mark H. Wright.

She seeks damages of more than $15,000.

Wright said Scytkowski will need plastic surgery. He said the club was negligent to let customers walk so close to the dancers.

"Somebody shouldn't be dancing in an area like that where somebody might be walking by," Wright said. "She got clocked in the face."

But Oz's owner, Paul Scagnelli, said Scytkowski, a former club employee, was intoxicated when she arrived at the club that night, then drank several shots of Patron tequila while there.

He said Scytkowski hopped onto the stage and laid on her back. The dancer, whom Scagnelli would not identify, didn't even see Scytkowski before unintentionally kicking her in the face. He said Scytkowski's injuries are her own fault.

"She climbed on stage and laid on the stage prone on her back, which is something we don't allow," Scagnelli said. "The entertainer was doing her routine and doesn't know this woman is lying on stage. This all happens in a second and a half."

Scagnelli said it would be impossible for a dancer to kick a customer who was simply walking by the stage. He said the club, which attracts about 200,000 customers per year, has never had an incident where a customer was kicked by a dancer.

"It would be virtually impossible for anyone to be struck just walking by the stage unless the entertainer was 17 feet tall," he said. "The laws of physics still apply to a strip club."

Scagnelli said Scytkowski worked for the club as a door person, server and dancer more than a year ago. He said she did not leave under good circumstances but said he couldn't recall the exact details.

Wright acknowledged Scytkowski worked at the club as a server but said she never was a dancer.

Wright said Scytkowski of Clearwater now works as a server at a local restaurant. He said she and several other servers decided to go out after work the night of Dec. 6 and headed to Oz, at Ulmerton Road and U.S. 19. He said she did not drink before arriving at the club.

Scagnelli said employees believed she was intoxicated when she arrived. Employees said she and her friends ordered 10 shots of tequila, then two more rounds. The group started dancing, then Scytkowski jumped on stage, Scagnelli said.

"That is absurd and false," Wright said of Scagnelli's account.

After she was kicked, the dancer and other staff members apologized to Scytkowski, Wright said.

"It seemed they took the position that night that they were responsible," he said. "Her eyes were black and blue."

Scytkowski visited a doctor the next day.

The suit states the kicking caused "great permanent physical injury and emotional damages, including pain and suffering, psychological injury, depression, past and future medical expenses, loss of wages and ... impairment of Scytkowski's ability to enjoy life both now and in the future."

Again, Scagnelli sees things differently. He said employees may have been apologetic but did not accept responsibility for the injury.

"We call that a courtesy, not an admission of guilt," he said.

Scagnelli said Scytkowski stayed at the club drinking for another 90 minutes, another claim Wright disputes.

"She stayed and closed the place," Scagnelli said.

Scagnelli said if Scytkowski had called the club and asked them to pay her doctor bills, they may have agreed to it. But he said the lawsuit is frivolous.

"This is without merit," he said. "We would have no problem taking responsibility if there was something legitimate here."

Times researcher Catherine Wos contributed to this report. Chris Tisch can be reached at 892-2359 or tisch@sptimes.com

This isn't the first time a patron has sued a strip club claiming to have been injured by a dancer. Other recent cases:

In 2003, an Indiana man sued a strip club, claiming a dancer doing a pole dance landed on his genitals. The man, to be married the next day, claimed the injury prevented him from having sex on his honeymoon.

In 2001, a man sued a Vancouver, Canada, strip club, saying a stripper kicked him in the head as she swung around a pole.

In 2001, a man sued a Lake Worth strip club, saying a dancer put his head in a leg lock, causing permanent ringing in his ears.

In 1998, a Seminole man sued Clearwater dance club Diamond Dolls, claiming a dancer's size 60-HHH breasts gave him whiplash during a lap dance. The case wound up on television's The People's Court, where the plaintiff lost.

In 1997, a man sued an Illinois strip club, claiming a dancer's 88-inch breasts, weighing 40 pounds each, injured his neck and back during a dance.

[Last modified March 11, 2006, 01:42:13]