The estate of a murdered Pennsylvanian gaming store clerk has been awarded $15.3 million posthumously.
Pace-O-Matic (“POM”), the defendants in the case were found, alongside Miele Manufacturing, to be negligent parties in a case that dated back to 2020, where the fatal shooting of clerk, Ashokkumar Patel occurred.
POM have not accepted the financial award, saying they were unhappy with the “$15 million Philadelphia verdict, Pace-O-Matic and our manufacturing partner, Miele Manufacturing, were assigned three million in damages. We will appeal and win.”
Estate of fatally shot clerk awarded $15.3 million in case involving Pace-O-Matic and Miele
POM, the developer of Pennsylvania Skill games, released a statement following the decision to award the financial sum. Mr Patel, a father of three, had been in post for less than a week before the incident.
“The death of Ashokkumar Patel is tragic and a terrible loss for his family. We commend the Hazleton Police Department and the Luzerne County District Attorney for apprehending the man who murdered Mr. Patel and making certain he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
The man, Jafet Rodriguez, was found guilty of the death of Patel in an incident where the accused fled the scene with $14,000. Rodriguez shot Mr Patel, but the clerk managed to crawl to the telephone before sadly passing before he could speak to the operator.
Hazleton Detective Ryan Mariano questioned Rodriguez after his apprehension, learning that he had lost and won thousands of dollars before the incident. At the time of his apprehension, his cell phone was tracked to the store location, then to a car wash he owned.
Officers recovered items, including a mask and a sweatshirt matching the description, and footage recorded on CCTV, which contained a mixture of Mr Patel’s and Rodriguez’s DNA.
Pace-O-Matic calls verdict ‘an unfortunate outcome’
Interestingly, Pace-O-Matic argued the total financial award of $15.3 million to the Patel estate, saying, “this case set a dangerous precedent by establishing responsibility and liability for criminal activity with businesses that offer any product, service, or software license at a location where a crime has occurred – even when there is little to no connection to the crime.”
“Even though minimal responsibility was ascribed to Pace-O-Matic, it is an unfortunate outcome that we believe is without sufficient legal or factual precedent. We are planning to appeal the decision and anticipate a favorable outcome,” the statement continued.
The gambling company also stated that the machines at the location were not accessible and argued that other manufacturers should have been held responsible as well, given the decision.
“Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania Skill had only a couple of games on location, which were inoperable and unavailable for play. Other games were on location and available for play. Those manufacturers were not held liable for the crime. The verdict in this case means that every company or individual who is even tangentially involved in the creation of a product is liable for any crime committed where that product is offered to customers.”
The legal defendants of the Patel estate, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, represented the case against POM. The law firm placed the blame on the gaming operator, saying POM was “entirely focused on increasing its bottom line rather than protecting vulnerable, low-wage workers who had to make large payouts without any security measures to protect them from foreseeable risks.”
Michael Barley, POM’s Chief Public Affairs Officer, was vocal about the company’s stance in the Patel murder case: “The casino industry partnered with an ambulance-chasing Philadelphia law firm to create a PR story off the back of this poor store clerk’s family. The reality is that this verdict will be overturned.”
Featured image: Courtesy of Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendeski
The post Pace-O-Matic and Miele contest $15.3M award to estate of murdered Pennsylvania clerk appeared first on ReadWrite.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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