News
ASPEN — A group of restaurants plans to sue the estate of the man who killed himself after leaving homemade bombs around Aspen on New Year’s Eve, prompting evacuations on one of the busiest nights of the year.
They hope to recoup some of the losses they suffered when the bomb scare halted celebrations.
The 10 restaurants have retained the Aspen law firm Garfield & Hecht, which plans to file suit this week against the estate of 72-year-old James Chester Blanning.
Blanning shot himself in his car a few hours after leaving two gift-wrapped, gasoline bombs at two banks and two more bombs in an alley. In notes left at two banks, Blanning demanded $60,000.
New Year’s festivities were canceled across the mountain resort town as police cleared downtown to find the bombs. No one was injured, and the bombs never went off.
“We’re not doing this for the money,” said Scott Brasington, a co-owner of the restaurant Kenichi, which is spearheading the legal action. “We’re doing this to make a statement.
“Whether it’s a Sno-Cat, a mining claim or whatever, we feel it belongs to the restaurant workers who took a huge hit,” Brasington said. “It’s not just the restaurant owners; it’s the waiters, the waitresses, the bartenders, the guys in the kitchen.”
Garfield & Hecht attorney Matt Ferguson said the lawsuit also is intended to “de-romanticize the Blanning character and show that real people were hurt.”
Ferguson said the amount of the suit has not been determined but the restaurants likely will be seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Several eateries reported losing $30,000 or more that night. New Year’s Eve is usually one of the most profitable nights of the year for Aspen restaurants.
“We really want to help these people out,” Ferguson said. “It was a horrible thing to do to good people.”
It’s unclear what value Blanning’s estate may have, but he owned some mining claims in Colorado.
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Information from: Aspen Daily News, http://www.aspendailynews.com
They hope to recoup some of the losses they suffered when the bomb scare halted celebrations.
The 10 restaurants have retained the Aspen law firm Garfield & Hecht, which plans to file suit this week against the estate of 72-year-old James Chester Blanning.
Blanning shot himself in his car a few hours after leaving two gift-wrapped, gasoline bombs at two banks and two more bombs in an alley. In notes left at two banks, Blanning demanded $60,000.
New Year’s festivities were canceled across the mountain resort town as police cleared downtown to find the bombs. No one was injured, and the bombs never went off.
“We’re not doing this for the money,” said Scott Brasington, a co-owner of the restaurant Kenichi, which is spearheading the legal action. “We’re doing this to make a statement.
“Whether it’s a Sno-Cat, a mining claim or whatever, we feel it belongs to the restaurant workers who took a huge hit,” Brasington said. “It’s not just the restaurant owners; it’s the waiters, the waitresses, the bartenders, the guys in the kitchen.”
Garfield & Hecht attorney Matt Ferguson said the lawsuit also is intended to “de-romanticize the Blanning character and show that real people were hurt.”
Ferguson said the amount of the suit has not been determined but the restaurants likely will be seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Several eateries reported losing $30,000 or more that night. New Year’s Eve is usually one of the most profitable nights of the year for Aspen restaurants.
“We really want to help these people out,” Ferguson said. “It was a horrible thing to do to good people.”
It’s unclear what value Blanning’s estate may have, but he owned some mining claims in Colorado.
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Information from: Aspen Daily News, http://www.aspendailynews.com
