Board Rules Four Square Served Drunk Man Celebrating 21st Birthday

After a birthday drinking celebration turned into a confrontation in the Landing and trip to the hospital for one young man last September, Four Square Restaurant and Bar was penalized Tuesday with a one-day suspension of its all-alcohol license.

Braintree officials unanimously agreed that the restaurant served an intoxicated person that night six months ago, but also voted to hold the penalty in abeyance as long as Four Square does not violate the terms of its license for 12 months.

The decision came two weeks after the board penalized The Landing Pub with a two-day suspension of its alcohol license, to be served on a Friday and Saturday in April. That sentence is now on hold while the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission processes an appeal filed by an attorney for the establishment.

Technically, like Four Square, The Landing Pub was also operating without a first offense when the board made its decision. The discrepancy in penalties came about because the board had voted in 2009 that the Landing was guilty of an alcohol license violation.

The board at the time chose to automatically clear that from the restaurant's record after 12 months, but that was an error and went against the board's policies, Powers said. It normally only removes a violation from an establishment's record with a vote after 48 months.

"The fact of the matter is that they were found guilty of a second violation," Powers said.

The chair said that technically the board could not refer to the birthday drinking episode as a second offense, but that it could take it into consideration. The two-day suspension also fits within the scope of first offense penalties based on its regulations.

Powers also indicated Tuesday that going forward the board may be operating under different standards based on a pending appeal before the ABCC by the Brew House. That Granite Street bar, found in violation last September of serving an intoxicated person, had a hearing before the state agency Feb. 27 in Boston.

When the decision comes down from the ABCC, it is likely to modify how the board decides similar cases, Powers said. The board will discuss the appeal in a future meeting.

Based on their previous decision that The Landing Pub served the 21-year-old while he was intoxicated, and because according to testimony from his brother and friend to the investigating police officer that he then drank at Four Square, board members said it was a clear-cut case that Four Square was also in violation.

"We have very credible evidence," Powers said.

Four Square co-owner Marko Fani and bartender James DiGiacomo adamantly denied that the young man or anyone would have been served if visibly intoxicated. DiGiacomo said he did not remember the drinking party at the bar that night, nor anyone making a commotion.

"Even if his mother walked into the bar, he would never [over-serve] her," Fani said of DiGiacomo.