Punched at Starbucks

NEW YORK — A federal judge declined to dismiss negligence claims stemming from an incident in which a Starbucks customer was violently attacked by another patron. The assaulted man presented evidence of past assaults at the Union Square location and showed a heightened risk to patrons presented by the location of the coffee shop immediately below a methadone clinic. From this evidence, a jury could find that the attack was foreseeable to Starbucks and its executives responsible for customer safety.