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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Back issues
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Man Alleges Injuries From|Drake, Chris Brown Brawl

MANHATTAN (CN) - A New York club-goer claims in court that he was injured in a jealous brawl between hip-hop artists Drake and Chris Brown, and their entourages.

Click here to read Courthouse News' Entertainment Law Digest.

Romain Julien says the fight broke out over pop star Rihanna, who has dated both Brown and Drake. She started dating Drake after her highly publicized break-up with Brown, who pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna in June 2009.

Drake and his posse bumped into Brown and his entourage at the W.i.P. club in Manhattan on the night of June 14 and 15, according to the lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court.

Brown allegedly sent Drake a bottle of champagne, which Drake refused with a note stating, "I am f-king the love of your life."

"Shortly thereafter Drake and his entourage, and Brown and his entourage, entered into an altercation involving bottle throwing, possibly gun shots, and a general melee," Julien claims.

Julien, who was sitting at another table, says broken glass severed a tendon on his right hand, which required surgery. He claims he continues to suffer from "cosmetic deformity; scarring; extreme pain and suffering; [inability] to attend to his usual duties and vocation; mental anguish and distress; [and] limited use of his right arm."

He claims the club owners should have foreseen and prevented the violence, because W.i.P. and its upstairs counterpart, the Greenhouse, "have become a nuisance and a public nuisance."

Julien says the clubs' owners and operators "knew that there was criminal and other improper activity taking place inside as well as outside of the clubs" requiring "numerous calls to police."

The Greenhouse was even denied a liquor license due to the violence and lack of security, Julien says, but the club found a way to obtain one through the basement club W.i.P.

He's suing Aubrey Drake ("Drake") and Brown, along with club owners and operators W.i.P. ("Work in Progress") Club, Collective Hardware, 150 RFT Varick Corp., 150 RFT Varick Basement, W. & M. Operating, Barry Mullineaux, Lina Kay, Hirukuni Sai, John Best, Frank Porco and Merlin Willis.

Julien's attorney is David Jaroslawicz of Jaroslawicz & Jaros, the firm representing San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker in his $20 million lawsuit over the same club brawl, filed in June.

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