Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Son Seeks Damages|for Exploding Taxi

LAS VEGAS (CN) - The son of a taxi driver who died when his cab exploded upon being rammed by an aspiring rapper after a shooting on the Vegas Strip sued Chrysler and the Aria Resort & Casino for wrongful death.

Michael A. Boldon sued Aria and the Haze Nightclub in one lawsuit, and the Chrysler Group and Multi-Service Leasing in another, on Feb 6, on his own behalf and for the estate of his late father, Michael Boldon, 62.

Both lawsuits in Clark County Court say his father was taking a passenger to the airport on Feb. 21, 2013, when a Maserati driven by Kenneth Cherry Jr. slammed into the cab at around 4 a.m.

The cab exploded and killed Boldon's father and his passenger.

News reports indicate Cherry had just left a private party at the Haze Nightclub inside the Aria when his companion got into an argument with another patron, Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, in the valet parking area.

Harris reportedly chased Cherry's car onto the Las Vegas Strip and fired several shots, killing Cherry and striking his passenger. Cherry lost control and slammed into several cars, including the taxi driven by Boldon.

Before the shooting, Boldon's son claims in the new lawsuits, security and valet staff at the nightclub "provided, condoned and/or encouraged the use of illegal drugs" at the event for invited members of the rap music industry.

Boldon claims Harris and Cherry's passenger began arguing at the nightclub, but security staff did nothing to stop it.

The argument continued in the valet area, where Boldon says Cherry's friend and passenger brandished a handgun and showed it to Harris, but the valet staff ignored it instead of calling the police or security. Then came the shooting.

Boldon accuses Aria and the Haze Nightclub of wrongful death, negligence, negligent hiring, training, retention and supervision, and negligence.

He claims that the 2008 Dodge Charger taxi his father was driving had a defective "fuel containment system" that caused the car to explode, and a "defective seat system" that caused "incapacitating injuries" to his father.

Boldon accuses Chrysler and Multi-Service Leasing of wrongful death and product liability.

In both complaints, he seeks general, compensatory, pecuniary and special damages.

He is represented by Lawrence Smith, with Benson, Bertoldo, Baker & Carter.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...