Jury: North Dakota Hotel Not Civilly Responsible for Deadly Fight

A jury has reached a verdict in a civil case involving a Fargo hotel and a fatal fight outside its doors.

Jurors decided The Hotel Donaldson is not responsible for paying damages to the widow of the man who died in the fight and another man who was injured, KVLY-TV reported.

The case stems from a fight in May 2017 involving Darren Patterson, Jamie Grant and Christopher Sang. Patterson was earlier convicted of throwing punch that killed Grant more than a week later. Sang suffered a traumatic brain injury in the fight.

Patterson pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in 2018 and served 15 months of his 18-month sentence.

Jenny Grant and Sang sued the hotel for $2.5 million, saying staff there should have known the three men were going to fight after getting kicked out of the bar.

The hotel maintained that its staff would have no authority over anyone outside of its doors. Two witnesses testified that the hotel did not hire security and instead relied on staff to break up any altercations.

During the trial, Jenny Grant told the jury that she and her family thought Jamie would recover quickly, and stated death was never a thought that crossed their minds until days later. Jamie Grant spent nine days in the ICU until he passed away.

“We were just praying and hoping and being so positive that everything was going to work out ok. And then as each day passed, the news got worse and worse,” she said.