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Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | Back issues
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Wife Says Pepsico, Hotel Set Stage for Murder

(CN) - The widow of a Texas man killed at a Mexican resort by an alcohol intoxicated PepsiCo employee claims in court that the hotel and Pepsi encouraged employees of the beverage company to drink heavily at a party, and then allowed them to roam the facility without supervision.

In a complaint filed in Miami-Dade County, plaintiff Raine Chacko says that on March 8, 2014, she arrived at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun with her husband and two children for a family vacation.

Chacko says that during their stay they explored all the facilities at the resort and participated in a guided tour where they visited "Noir," a popular nightclub.

On the night of March 13, 2014, Chacko claims her husband put their children to sleep, and told her that he was going to "Noir."

According to the complaint, the night club was particularly crowded that night with Pepsi employees, who had attended a company-sponsored event at the Moon Palace resort earlier that day.

She alleges that Pepsi provided "a full-day and night of drinking" for its employees, including defendant Gabriel Trinidad Jimenez, and that it failed to take any precautions after allowing them to consume excessive amounts of alcohol.

"Trinidad Jimenez had been given an award at the event and had been drinking heavily since earlier in the day," Chacko says.

Chacko claims that Trinidad Jimenez had consumed so much liquor that he could not remember what he did after leaving Noir.

During the early hours of March 14, Chacko says, her husband was found laying on the floor while Trinidad Jimenez was on top of him, smashing his head against the concrete.

She says that when he noticed the security guard approaching he took off running.

However, Trinidad Jimenez was later caught and arrested by the Mexican police, and charged with murder, the complaint says.

"Mexican authorities eventually concluded that cranial fractures and multiple cranial contusions caused Joseph's death," Chacko says.

Chacko claims that she did not find out about her husband's death until later that morning when she received a call from the resort's manager.

She says that during the night of her husband's death the Moon Palace resort negligently allowed its security guard to leave the entrance of the night club unguarded after he was instructed to go check on a guest room, and failed to put another guard in place.

Chacko seeks compensatory damages on claims of wrongful death, negligence and battery.

She is represented by Gary Davidson from Diaz Reus & Targ in Miami, Fla. The Moon Palace Resort and Pepsico failed to respond to an email request for comment on the lawsuit.

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