When a fight breaks out in a public place, who is at fault? Is it the instigator? Does blame fall on all those who participated? Is the owner of the location at all responsible for what happens on their grounds? These are the questions that a recent lawsuit seeks to answer.

Owners of a former nightspot say they should be protected from a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a Dover man being attacked by another patron. The parents of Joshua Krantz filed a lawsuit against the bar after their son died when he was struck by another patron.

Joseph Mattson, a lawyer for the former nightspot owners, argued that the owners of the bar could not be held liable for Krantz’s death because they operated their business under a limited liability corporation, New Adventure Entertainment LCC.

The bar owners have denied any wrongdoing. The lawyer representing the Krantz family also alleges in the complaint that New Adventure was cited by the state’s Liquor Commission for allegedly failing “to take advantage of educational classes offered by the commission” in December 2007. The restaurant closed shortly after Krantz was attacked.