A SoHo nightclub lashed out against NBA star Tony Parker, saying the hoopster can’t blame the hot spot for a violent brawl that nearly cost him his career.
Lawyers for W.i.P. want the club dropped from a $20 million lawsuit by Parker, whose cornea was scratched in a wild, glass-throwing brawl between pals of crooner Chris Brown and Canadian rap artist Drake.
Defense lawyers called the wild June 14 fight an “unforeseen and unexpected incident,” and that it’s ridiculous to say the club should be monitoring press accounts of guests who might have beefs with each other.
Brown and Drake are vying for the attention of Rihanna. The pretty “Umbrella” singer was once hot and heavy with Brown before he was busted for beating her after a pre-Grammys party in 2009.
“Plaintiff cannot establish that defendants owed, much less violated a duty of care . . . based on unspecified ‘media’ reports of ‘bad blood’ between the two celebrities,” according to a filing written by defense lawyer Je Jun Moon.
“The negligence claim is based on the unsupportable implication [that the club] had a duty to monitor through the media the social relationships of WIP patrons,”
The defense said the club cannot reasonably have a duty to “control the conduct of not those two individuals but of numerous other people who accompanied them.”
Furthermore, Moon said Parker cannot prove what roles Brown and Drake played in touching off the wild brawl.
“It’s not even alleged that the two celebrities caused the June 14 altercation or plaintiff’s injury,” according to the defense.
The San Antonio Spurs point guard lists the club, its owners and various unnamed parties — presumably still unknown, glass-throwing pals of Brown and Drake — as plaintiffs.
The lawsuit doesn’t name Drake or Brown.
Parker, the ex-husband of “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria, recovered in time to play for France in this summer’s Olympics. But he was forced to wear awkward, protective goggles that might have impacted his play.
France was eliminated in the Olympic quarterfinal by eventual silver-medalists Spain.
Additional reporting by David K. Li