ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A civil lawsuit filed by the teen and her mother stabbed by her ex-boyfriend at a Ponte Vedra Restaurant in 2023 is seeking damages from that restaurant, the attacker and his parents.
Schemitz, her mother and another man were stabbed at Mr. Chubby's Wings on June 3, 2023 by her ex-boyfriend Spencer Pearson. Schemitz was paralyzed from the chest down. This spring, she walked during her graduation from Ponte Vedra High.
The lawsuit names Chubby's Wings PVB, Chubby's Group LLC, Dan and Tonya Pearson as defendants. Filed Thursday in St. Johns County, the plaintiffs' attorney is John Phillips.
The lawsuit alleges Pearson exhibited controlling and stalking behavior toward Schemitz after they broke up. It states Pearson's parents were notified of their son's behavior multiple times. It states, after their breakup, Pearson threatened Schemitz's friends and "posted a photo on Snapchat of a necktie around his neck with tears as if to simulate suicide."
Pearson was later hospitalized for five days in April 2023. The lawsuit focused on Pearson's ability to have a weapon despite his mental state.
"Despite the history of mental health and both homicidal and suicidal thoughts, Dan and Tonya Pearson also entrusted their minor and unsound son, Spencer Pearson, with a large knife they gave to him when he was under the age of 18. It had his personal information engraved in it and was used to commit the assaults," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit refers to the situation inside the restaurant, where Pearson stayed for about 30 minutes before he stabbed Schemitz 17 times. It references Chubby's Wings employees not calling the police after warnings from Schemitz and her mother, and said the business "had a non-delegable duty to take such precautions as were reasonably necessary to protect its employees and invitees from reasonably foreseeable criminal attacks."
The lawsuit continues:
"After approximately 30 minutes, Spencer Pearson was noticed inside of Chubby’s by Madison or Jacki (Roge, Schemitz's mother). Given recent events, Jacki and Madison put Chubby’s on notice of the prior threats, the fact they needed to urgently leave and direct concern for imminent harm and that Spencer Pearson was the source of that imminent harm.
Jacki and Madison were clearly in a rush and verbally and physically exhibited fear and a need to escape, as they rushed out of the restaurant. Fairly immediately after noticing they had left, Spencer Pearson ran unimpeded with no attempt at stalling or stopping him by anyone at Chubby’s. Chubby’s provided no security to assist Jacki or Madison."
