Customers have filed legal action against Shuckers Bar & Grill after the deck collapse last week.
NBC 6 exclusively obtained a copy of the lawsuit that was filed late Tuesday.
A husband and wife allege that Shuckers had a duty to make sure they could have a safe night out and they say it didn't live up to that responsibility.
'I hit my neck I think it was because I go back with the chair hit me – my back and my neck," said Flavia Ellemberger, who is suing Shuckers.
On Tuesday, Ellemberger was still in a neck brace and had her hand bandaged. Her husband Reynaldo Reyes says he hurt his head. The couple says the night of fun with their son, which turned into horror when the deck collapsed at Shuckers, caused them to file this lawsuit.
"I don't think it would be fair or OK to let your business roll and make money out of us and at the same time just don't care," said Reynaldo Reyes.
The couple told NBC 6 that they believe Shuckers knew of the potential danger and let them come to watch the Heat game on the deck anyway.
"If you business is running fine might as well just fix it. Get it done. Close the restaurant for weekend or so or do something. I mean for us to feel comfortable," Reyes said.
The lawsuit alleges that the restaurant failed to warn anyone would be exposed to such hazardous and debilitation conditions. It also alleges that the restaurant failed to inspect for and to observe and resolve the hazard present and allowed an ongoing, recurring problem to occur which would cause injuries.
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"I can't imagine the deteriorated condition that this deck must have been in. Slowly over the course of time. This isn't a sudden failure. This is something that rotted away of the course of weeks, months and years. And that these business owners failed to maintain it and as a result this tragedy happened," said their attorney Spencer Aronfeld.
NBC 6 obtained the city's records and our own investigation found Shuckers' owner got a city permit to repair or replace the deck and submitted drawings and engineering diagrams along with the permit application back in 2010, but the construction company told us the work wasn't done and
city records show the permit for the job expired six months ago.
"I was hearing people saying that people was jumping or it was too much people. Nobody was jumping and it wasn't that much people," Ellemberger said.
"I am in pain. I can't work because I work as a server. I need my hand to hold the tray. I can't sleep either. I got all this in my mind all the time," she said.
NBC 6 contacted the owner of Shuckers and went to the family home for comment, but they didn't immediately respond.
