Anthony’s restaurant hit with second lawsuit this year

A second lawsuit this year alleging bad behavior by customers was filed against Anthony's Restaurant & Pub.

On Tuesday, Kenneth Kozak filed suit against both the 3151 Voyager Lane bar and Ricky Diaz, who allegedly punched and hit him with a beer bottle in May 2016. The lawsuit describes it as a malicious and wanton assault.

Kozak’s attorney Ryan Kosztya said his client suffered lacerations after being struck in the head.

The lawsuit accuses Anthony’s staff of allowing Diaz to be at the restaurant at the time, even though he was “quarrelsome, disorderly and/or vicious,” and that they failed to control him when “it became obvious that he was becoming unruly and out of control.”

Anthony’s allegedly hired people “without adequate training” to determine if a customer had too much to drink and “failed to provide adequate security,” according to the lawsuit.

Diaz’s attack on Kozak left him with “numerous painful and severe injuries,” and he has “expended large sums of money for necessary medical care, treatment and services.”

Anthony's owner, Anthony Hohlastos, failed to return calls and a message regarding the lawsuit Thursday.

On Feb. 16, Anthony’s was sued by Kiara Garcia, a passenger in a car driven Lorraine A. Szymankowski, who “violently collided” with another car on Feb. 25, 2017.

Garcia claimed Szymankowski, who was 20 at the time, consumed alcohol at Anthony’s that “caused her to become intoxicated” before she got in the car.

Szymankowski pleaded guilty to one count of DUI on Jan. 26, according to court records. Another DUI count was dropped. She also pleaded guilty to improper passing of an emergency vehicle and failure to reduce speed.

She was given two years of court supervision, ordered to complete 200 hours of public service and fined $1,500.

Garcia alleged she suffered injuries that caused her to lose wages and incur medical expenses, as well as pain and physical and emotional trauma "of a permanent and lasting nature."

Anthony’s has yet to respond to the lawsuit, according to court records.

Joliet city officials said last year that Anthony’s accumulated 132 calls for service in three years. The calls included two shootings in 2017. In a July 23 incident, a woman was shot in the leg twice and another woman was stabbed in the face.

After that incident, the restaurant reached an agreement with city officials to no longer provide live entertainment and close at 2 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings.