Lottery sued after toes crushed

As a bartender at Rick's Pub in Dedham, Scott McGloughlin has seen his share of brawls between customers who have tipped back a few. But two patrons who got into a fight in 2002 accidentally tipped over something else, a 400-pound lottery ticket vending machine, which fell on McGloughlin's left foot and crushed his toes.

McGloughlin, who had to have most of his big toe and half of the one next to it amputated, is suing the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission, asserting it was negligent for putting the machine in the bar.

"If you had your big toe amputated, how would you feel?" said his lawyer, Steven Rosenberg. "Besides, isn't it foreseeable that if you put a freestanding lottery machine that weighs 400 pounds in a bar, that some people might bump into it and tip it over? It's not totally unexpected that something like that would happen in a bar."

Two customers got into a brawl on the night of Sept. 13, 2002, slammed into the vending machine, and caused it to tip over and lean against the wall, according to the suit and interviews with McGloughlin and his lawyer. The bartender told the men to leave and walked over to the machine.

But the men began fighting again and knocked into the machine, which fell onto McGloughlin's foot, the suit said. McGloughlin, who is now 31, said he was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where doctors were unable to save his toes, and he had to undergo the amputations a couple of weeks later. The suit also named the two men as defendants.

An incident report at the Dedham Police Department said only one of the customers named in the lawsuit was involved in the fight and that it was with a different man. When McGloughlin tried to kick that man out, the two of them fell against the vending machine and knocked it over.

McGloughlin says he was unable to work at the bar for 18 months and that his injuries threatened his side job as an apprentice electrician. His suit lists more than $33,000 in medical bills and lost wages.

Rosenberg wrote the lottery commission in January 2003 to say that McGloughlin would need physical therapy and perhaps more surgery, and demanded $100,000 in compensation. "As you may know, the big toe is the body's main stabilizer," the lawyer wrote. "Mr. McGloughlin will have to relearn how to walk."

The commission has not responded, Rosenberg said. Karen Sharma, a spokeswoman for the state Treasury Department, which oversees the lottery, said they do not comment on pending litigation.