Kentucky Person Injury Attorney

By Josh Kegley - jkegley@herald-leader.com

A Lexington man who claims he was punched in the face by a parking attendant in July has filed a personal injury lawsuit against the attendant. The attendant was found not guilty in a criminal case from the incident.

Donald Perry seeks an undetermined amount of money from Wendell Hall, the attendant, claiming he suffered and will continue to suffer "physical and emotional pain and distress."

Hall was charged with fourth-degree assault in the case in August. He was found not guilty Jan. 25, according to court records.

According to a criminal complaint summons filed in Fayette District Court, Perry, a building contractor who was 70 at the time, questioned Hall as he was ticketing a vehicle at a downtown construction site.

Perry's adult son, Steven Perry, left his truck partly parked in the roadway on Montmullin Street to unload 500 bricks, court documents said. Donald Perry asked Hall whether he could unload the truck and then move it, but "an argument ensued," according to documents.

When reached by phone Friday, Hall said he had not even issued the ticket before the argument started.

Hall said he was surprised to learn that a lawsuit had been filed against him, because he was in the early stages of filing a lawsuit against Donald and Steven Perry.

Hall said the elder Perry hit him first and used racial slurs as Hall was preparing to ticket the truck.

"He was hitting me in the face with his hand. I'm backed in a corner against a rail. He hit me again, then I hit him," Hall said. "That was the end of that, until his son came."

Hall filed a police report, alleging that Steven Perry struck him.

Steven Perry has acknowledged that he hit Hall, but said he did so only after he saw his father lying on the ground drifting in and out of consciousness. Donald Perry is also suing Republic Parking Systems Inc., which employed Hall. The company contracts with Lexington for parking services. Perry claims in the lawsuit that Republic Parking should have known that "as a parking enforcer, Hall would need to be trained in, and adequately prepared for, and otherwise fit to respond appropriately to ticket disputes."

The suit also criticizes Republic Parking's overlooking Hall's past criminal charges, which were a "matter of public record and were readily available to Republic Parking at the time it hired Hall," according to the suit. Court records show Hall has been jailed for possession of marijuana, fleeing and evading police and fourth-degree assault.

"I admit being young and naïve and doing things when I was 16, 17 years of age. That don't have nothing to do with what's going on now," said Hall, who is now 39.

Hall said he is no longer employed by Republic Parking.

"I've been hired and fired from this company three times, then after all this has happened, they ended up letting me go a month after I was proven innocent of the charges," Hall said.

Representatives from Republic Parking did not return calls seeking comment Friday.