Celebrity Lawsuit to Mediation

(CNS) Posted Friday October 1, 2010 - 2pm

A civil case alleging actor-singer Jamie Foxx is responsible for causing a waiter injuries that ruined his plans to be a doctor is headed to mediation, the plaintiff's attorney said today.

Bradley E. Jewett, who represents William Presler, said the settlement efforts will take place later this month or in early November.

Today's scheduled hearing on a motion by Foxx's lawyers to dismiss the part of the case against him was canceled, Jewett said.

Foxx's company, Foxx 2007 Tours Inc., is also among the named defendants in the suit filed by Presler, who says he was hired to serve at an after-party at the Social Hollywood club for Foxx's "Unpredictable Tour" on April 21, 2007.

During the event, Belvedere Vodka provided an unsecured and unsafe fully sculptured ice bar, according to his court papers.

After serving the entourage, Presler slipped and fell, cut his left hand and underwent surgery that required more than 170 stitches, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in April 2009.

Presler, who holds an undergraduate degree in neuroscience from UC Riverside, says the injury prevented him from proceeding with his plans to become a brain surgeon.

In their dismissal motion, Foxx's lawyers stated that his actions the evening of the accident were "carefully scripted" and limited to a brief exchange of greetings and a welcoming statement to guests.

"Neither Foxx nor Foxx 2007 Tours were involved in the planning, organizing, selection of party fixtures, staffing decisions ... associated with post-concert parties,' his court papers state. "Nor is there evidence that the Foxx defendants created a hazardous condition or (were) even aware that one existed.'

In addition to Foxx, other defendants that will take part in the mediation include U.S. Concepts, which had a contract with the actor's company regarding promotional rights to events associated with the tour, and LA Ice Art, which built the ice bar.

The 42-year-old Foxx won an Academy Award for best actor for his role in the 2004 film "Ray.'