No longer able to practice his art as one of the “Killer Bees” tag team duo in bee-striped trunks, and reduced instead to serving as an elected public official in Florida:

Six years after a restaurant accident that he blamed for ending his professional wrestling career, Brian Blair has settled his negligence lawsuit against Carrabba’s Italian Grill. …

Carrabba’s attorney, Donald G. Greiwe, had filed papers indicating Blair was impaired at the time he tripped over a tray of bussed dishes at the restaurant. And Greiwe’s exhibit list included a videotape of a tag-team wrestling match in Nagano, Japan, in October 2001 — more than four months after Blair’s accident in the Carrabba’s on North Dale Mabry Highway. …

Blair claimed his ring career came to an end on the evening of June 2, 2001, when he visited Carrabba’s with his wife and two sons…. Blair, 50, filed the lawsuit on Nov. 5, 2002, three days after losing his first run for public office in a race for a Hillsborough County Commission seat won by Pat Frank. In 2004, Blair, a Republican, tried again and won a commission seat in a close contest against Bob Buckhorn.

He continued to press his case against Carrabba’s even after his original lawyers quit. Attorneys Nadine S. Diaz and Ron Darrigo, who had taken Blair’s case on a contingency basis, withdrew in January 2006, citing “irreconcilable differences” with Blair. …

A record filed by Greiwe of an examination of Blair at St. Joseph’s Hospital about an hour after the accident showed a blood alcohol of 0.089 percent, above the 0.08 level at which state law presumes an individual to be impaired. Greiwe said in court papers that Blair’s fall was the “result of his own negligence.”

Asked in a sworn deposition about his condition, Blair denied drinking before coming to the restaurant, suggesting he might have taken “one sip” of Carrabba’s house wine before the fall.

(Jeff Testerman, “Blair, cafe settle lawsuit”, St. Petersburg Times, Aug. 28).

Filed under: alcohol, hospitals, sports