Wrongful death suit alleges man died after eating at Strip restaurant

When Abraham Williams ordered the spaghettini with pesto sauce last April at Beauty &Essex, a restaurant at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, he let staff know that he was allergic to shellfish, according to a lawsuit filed last week.

But after taking a bite of his meal, Williams became ill, the lawsuit said, and started to go into anaphylactic shock. He died April 30, 2023, at Nathan Adelson Hospice, and his death certificate attributed the cause to anaphylaxis due to or as a consequence of a “food associated allergic reaction” to shrimp or nuts, court records show.

The complaint accuses Beauty &Essex, the Cosmopolitan, the Clark County Fire Department and Community Ambulance of acting negligently and alleges their conduct led to Williams’ death. The lawsuit claims the meal was “unsafe” and served with “known allergens” by Beauty &Essex.

The Cosmopolitan did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday. Clark County and the Tao Group, which operates Beauty &Essex, declined to comment.

Community Ambulance said it had not been formally served with the lawsuit. In a statement, Glen Simpson, senior director of specialty care, said, “While we cannot comment on ongoing legal matters, we extend our sincere sympathies to those impacted.”

Attorneys Christian Morris and Jamie McInelly filed the lawsuit in Clark County District Court on behalf of Kenneth and Rochelle Williams, Williams’ father and mother, and Angela Gaboury, who is listed as an administrator of Williams’ estate along with his father.

Williams went to the bathroom when he felt sick, then his friends took him outside and someone called 911 because he couldn’t breathe, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges employees at the Cosmopolitan and Beauty &Essex had been trained to give medical assistance, but instead employees of one or both businesses “stood by watching as (Williams) remained breathless, choking for air, and provided no assistance of any kind.” They also “created a barricade around (Williams) and refused to let anyone through to perform life saving techniques,” the lawsuit claims.

The fire department and Community Ambulance arrived and emergency workers started CPR and compressions, according to the lawsuit, and inserted an “airway device.”

But the complaint said “Doe EMS and/or Community Ambulance EMS failed to timely administer oxygen,” failed to intubate him correctly, allowing him to pull out his intubation tube, and did not conduct an EKG, which meant his cardiac arrest wasn’t “properly monitored.”

Once he arrived at the hospital, Williams went into respiratory and cardiac arrest, the lawsuit said, and doctors could not re-intubate him due to swelling. He was eventually placed on a ventilator and died two days after he was removed from it, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs continue to “suffer from grief and sorrow” due to the loss.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.