A Tiktoker who is facing a defamation lawsuit from Chicago's Hubbard Inn restaurant for allegedly lying about being manhandled and pushed down stairs by restaurant workers in a viral video has fired back at the restaurant, claiming it is they who have misled the public about the interaction between the TikToker and restaurant staff on that occasion.
On July 15, Julia Reel countersued the Hubbard Inn for both battery and defamation in relation to the viral incident that occurred at the restaurant about four months earlier.
Reel has also asked a Cook County judge to dismiss the Hubbard Inn's lawsuit against her.
The matter first landed in court on March 18.
A little over a week earlier, a video posted by Reel to social media platform TikTok went viral, when she first publicly claimed she was assaulted by restaurant security staff. Specifically, she claimed she was forced out of the restaurant's bathroom, and then allegedly grabbed and shoved by restaurant staff, allegedly falling down a flight of stairs in the process.
Hubbard Inn owners allegedly confronted her with security video footage which they say contradicted her claims, allegedly showing security staff peaceably escorting Reel down a flight of stairs and out of the restaurant.
When Reel refused to retract her story, the Hubbard Inn went public with the video, also on TikTok.
The Hubbard Inn also filed suit against Reel, claiming she had lied about the incident and smeared the reputation of the River North restaurant and club. They further claimed the fallout from Reel's video led to event cancellations and negative reviews posted online, allegedly costing them at least $30,000 in business in a very short time.
Reel, however, has continued to stand by her story, and in the new filings she asserts the alleged video evidence showing her being escorted from the restaurant was deceptive.
Specifically, in her countersuit and motion to dismiss, Reel said the video does not account for the fact that the restaurant actually has a "winding staircase" with three flights of stairs - an upper flight that leads to a landing, followed by a second flight that leads to a second landing, and a third flight leading to the ground floor and the door through which she exited the restaurant that night.
According to the countersuit, she claims the video footage shared by Hubbard Inn only shows what happened on the lowest flight of stairs leading to the exit, after she was allegedly pushed and fell.
She claims before that video footage was recorded, she had been in the women's bathroom on the establishment's second floor with a friend. She said both women were in the same stall, but were "only in the same stall for purposes of using the bathroom," and "were not doing anything illegal or inappropriate in the bathroom stall."
"The two women went into a bathroom stall together, as young women often do for safety purposes when out at bars and clubs at night," the countersuit said.
At that point, "someone pounded on the stall door loudly and aggressively."
Reel's friend allegedly responded by saying, "Can you give us a f-ing minute?"
Upon exiting the stall, Reel allegedly discovered the person allegedly pounding on the stall door was a Hubbard Inn female employee. That worker along with another allegedly "cursed and yelled at Ms. Reel and her friend and told them they had to leave."
After exiting the bathroom, they were allegedly met by "large, male bouncers" who told them they needed to leave the restaurant. They allegedly never explained why.
According to the countersuit, one of the bouncers, who allegedly was a foot taller than the 5' 3" Reel and allegedly outweighed her by at least 100 pounds, allegedly attempted to compel Reel to walk down the stairs. Amid the struggle, Reel reportedly fell "down several stairs" and "landed on her behind about halfway down the first set of stairs."
When Reel reacted angrily and allegedly "pushed back against the bouncer," the bouncer allegedly then pushed Reel a second time, allegedly causing her to fall down onto the first landing and "hit her head."
Reel and her friend then gathered her things from the stairs, and "continued to carefully descend the remaining sets of stairs with the Hubbard Inn Bouncer."
After leaving the restaurant, Reel and her friend allegedly went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for medical treatment of Reel's alleged injuries, which allegedly included a concussion and several bruises and scratches.
In the ensuing rival social media posts and commentary, Reel claims the Hubbard Inn "misled the public about what actually happened."
"For example, Hubbard Inn’s TikTok shows Ms. Reel talking about being pushed down the stairs, while simultaneously showing security camera footage of Ms. Reel walking down a different set of stairs at Hubbard Inn," Reel's countersuit claims. "Hubbard Inn’s TikTok also mixes up and mislabels Ms. Reel and her friend."
Reel claims the TikTok exchange with Hubbard Inn has resulted in her receiving "numerous harassing and violent e-mails, text messages, social media messages, phone calls, and has led to negative commentary about her on various websites."
Those messages also reportedly led to her being investigated by her employer, according to the complaint. That employer is not identified in the documents.
In the motion to dismiss Hubbard Inn's lawsuit, Reel asserts Hubbard Inn's defamation claims also fall short and should be tossed.
She claims Hubbard Inn has no legal grounds on which to sue her, because her story was "substantially true."
Further, Reel asserts her claims were against the Hubbard Inn bouncer who allegedly pushed her down the stairs on March 9, and not the restaurant itself.
And, while the restaurant has claimed to have lost $30,000 in business as a result of Reel's initial TikTok concerning the alleged incident, Reel asserts the restaurant cannot prove they lost the business as a direct result of her TikTok video and battery claims.
Reel is seeking unspecified damages against Hubbard Inn through her counterclaim, including potential compensatory damages and attorney fees.
Reel is represented by attorneys Rebecca Kaiser Fournier, Victor P. Henderson and Philip J. Andrews, of the firm of Henderson Parks LLC, of Chicago.
Hubbard Inn has been represented by attorney Kevin R. Malloy, of the firm of Forde & O'Meara, of Chicago.
Hubbard Inn has not yet responded to Reel's new filings.