The operator of Barbarossa Lounge says a 2023 viral video, which captures the property owner sheltering a homeless woman in front of the business, caused significant damage to the business’ profits and reputation.
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – The CEO of a San Francisco bar claims in a complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court that a 2023 viral video depicting a man spraying a homeless person with a sock on the sidewalk in front of his business caused him emotional distress and $2.5 million in lost earnings.
The case stems from a 2023 video that captured a man spraying a homeless individual with a sock on the sidewalk outside Barbarossa Lounge in Chinatown. Within days, the video garnered more than 16 million views on social media, with many mistakenly assuming the man was someone connected to the lounge or an employee. Instead, the man in the video, Shannon Collier Gwin, was not affiliated with the business, but owns the property and rents it out to Barbarossa Lounge.
The plaintiff, Arash Ghanadan, the lounge’s operator, accuses Gwin of triggering a wave of public backlash against him and his business, including death threats, harassment and negative Yelp and Google reviews, blaming the lounge for the behavior in the video.
“The business impact was immediate, severe and measurable,” he said in the complaint filed Friday.
Ganadan also alleges that the incident damaged his and the lounge’s reputation, as well as deterred customers and further contributed to reduced business revenue. It adds that “relentless public hostility, harassment and reputational damage” has made the business commercially unviable and that it is looking for an alternative location.
“Barbarossa Lounge cannot operate in a safe, peaceful and commercially viable manner – the purpose for which it leases the property,” says Ganadan.
Ghanadan argues that Gwin breached the lease agreement by failing to provide a “quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the property” and trespassed on the hall’s property by using the utility pipe and hose outside the front entrance of the business. He further claims that Gwin should have anticipated that his conduct would be recorded and linked to the Barbarossa Lounge, and Gwin should have corrected the public’s misidentification of Ganadan and the lounge as responsible for the incident.
“Defendant had actual knowledge that members of the public were attributing his conduct to Barbarossa Lounge and its employees. As the individual responsible for the conduct and as the landlord with direct control over the property, Defendant was uniquely positioned to correct the false narrative,” Ghanadan says in the complaint.
It continues: “Despite this knowledge, the defendant failed and refused to take reasonable steps to clarify that the plaintiffs were not involved, thereby allowing the damage to the plaintiffs’ reputation and business to continue to intensify.”
Ghanadan says he and his employees have suffered severe emotional distress as a result of the misidentification and have received death threats and threats of physical violence, as well as threatening voicemails, phone calls and letters.
He is asking the court for at least $2.55 million in damages to cover direct losses, plus $2 million in additional damages and an order vacating Barbarossa Lounge from its lease.
In a statement to Courthouse News, Neusha Ghaedi of DeMartini Walker & Ghaedi, an attorney for Ghanadan, said the reputational damage of Gwin’s actions is “ongoing and ongoing” and that Barbarossa Lounge continues to receive negative online comments directly related to the 2023 video.
“This lawsuit seeks liability for the significant reputational and financial harm caused. Small businesses should not have to face destruction because of the actions of others, especially when those actions create a false public association that permanently damages a business’s reputation and livelihood,” she said.
A representative for Gwin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gwin was arrested nine days after the incident and faced misdemeanor charges. That July, he agreed to do 35 hours of community service in exchange for dropping the criminal charges. according to to the San Francisco Chronicle.
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