Pat’s King of Steaks sued over 2021 fatal beating

The father of a 28-year-old fatally beaten in front of Pat’s King of Steaks in 2021 has filed a lawsuit against the South Philadelphia institution for failing to take necessary steps to prevent “fights and other acts of violence.”

Attorneys for Isidro Cortes’ family filed the wrongful death suit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas last week. The suit, which also names owner Frank Olivieri, alleges Pat’s ownership knew or should have known “there had been many instances of violence, assault, and even murder” on the premises, pointing to a shooting death that had taken place in front of the establishment two months prior Cortes’ attack, and failed to hire security.

» READ MORE: Pat’s King of Steaks sued over fatal 2021 shooting

“This case is about the utter failure of a well-established business located in a residential community to take even minimal public safety precautions that would have prevented the brutal beating death of Isidro Cortes in front of his father and loved ones,” attorney Joel J. Feller of Ross Feller Casey said in a statement.

A Pat’s spokesperson declined to comment.

According to the suit, Cortes, of Queens, and his family went to Pat’s in the early hours of Sept. 16 after attending a Concacaf Champions League semifinal between the Philadelphia Union and Mexico City’s Club América in Chester’s Subaru Park.

The family sat at an outside table about 50 feet from Osvaldo “Willie” Pedraza of Kensington and his group, who are not named in the suit, and who attorneys allege had been drinking. As Cortes passed the group, the suit claims, Pedraza began to hurl insults and the situation escalated quickly, with Pedraza landing a punch, prompting a fight to break out.

As many as eight men were involved in the fight, the suit alleges, including Cortes’ 64-year-old father, Isidro Flores. Both father and son were eventually knocked unconscious as their other family members were chased and attacked, the suit alleges.

Despite the intensity of the scrum, Cortes’ attorneys allege Pat’s employees did not intervene or call the police, a claim that contradicts initial reports following the fight. At the time, Olivieri said a manager who’d heard the commotion called police and told the group they’d done so, breaking up the melee in front of the business, though it continued behind the shop on Wharton Street. The suit claims a stomp to the head by South Philadelphia resident Victor Pedraza is what ultimately killed Cortes, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Attorneys argue by the time a call was made to police, Pedraza’s group had dispersed and no arrests were made that night.

After the incident, Olivieri told The Inquirer the shop had about 40 cameras recording in HD, which he was confident would aid in finding the assailants. Two suspects — Omar Arce, 33, and Jose Alberto Flores-Huerta, 34 — were arrested and charged with murder and are set to go to trial this year. Willie and Victor Pedraza have warrants for their arrest but have yet to be apprehended.

» READ MORE: Two men who participated in a fatal brawl at Pat’s King of Steaks will face trial for murder

In addition to Cortes’ death, the suit claims his father suffered “severe neurological, cognitive, orthopedic, musculoskeletal, and other injuries requiring hospitalization,” in addition to the harm caused by witnessing his son’s murder. The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

In July, two years after 22-year-old David Padro Jr. was fatally shot over a parking space in front of Pat’s, his family filed a similar wrongful death suit, arguing private security could have prevented Padro’s death. In that case, the Padro family’s attorneys pointed to a 2016 stabbing that left a man wounded and a 2020 incident in which shots were fired but no one was hit that took place in front of Pat’s as reasons the business should have already had security measures in place.