Man sues his date for texting during a movie

We've all been angered at the movies by the guy or gal who is so selfish that he/she starts calling someone or texting while the movie is playing. There are so many ways how that can be annoying. First, there is the light from the screen, not to mention both sides of the conversation that can be heard. And the clacking of the keyboard created by texting can be a huge distraction to movie goers. That is why Theater Mode on the Apple Watch is so useful. It keeps the screen dark until you tap a button or press on the screen. The raise-to-wake feature is disabled, and sound is muted. Hopefully, this feature will eventually be available for the iPhone and iPad.

Sometimes, things go too far. Take 37-year old Brandon Vezmar, who lives in Austin. For his first date with a 35-year old woman on May 6th, he took her to see Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. To his dismay, 15-minutes after the film started, Vezmar's date started texting on her handset. Did we tell you that this is one of his pet peeves?  Not only was this their first date, both had never met each other before since they had met using an online dating app.

According to Brandon, his date activated her phone 10 to 20 times in a 15-minute period to send and receive texts. He asked her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. Finally, he suggested that she go outside of the theater to text, and she obliged. But after she left the theater, she never returned. Since he was driven to the theater by his date, Vezmar was left stranded.

What would you do? Most of us would probably forget about it and move on. But not Brandon Vezmar. Calling the incident "kind of a first date from hell," he filed a lawsuit against his date for the cost of the ticket, $17.31. The woman responded to Vezmar's claims by stating that she had texted only two or three times, and it was to a girlfriend who was in the middle of a fight with her boyfriend. "I had my phone low and I wasn’t bothering anybody," she said,

The suit was filed after Brandon asked the woman to reimburse him for the price of the theater ticket. But she said that he was in the middle of taking her out on a date, so she refused. She also filed for protection for her little sister, whom Brandon contacted by phone seeking the return of the $17.31.

Vezmar's complaint states that the texting was in violation of the theater's policy. According to the suit, the defendant affected the "viewing experience" of Vezmar and various patrons of the movie theater who could not enjoy the show.

The filing adds that "While damages sought are modest, the principle is important as defendant’s behavior is a threat to civilized society."

source: Statesman via CNET