A popular Big Apple tattoo biz is suing former workers who went public over its alleged nasty conditions \u2014 including the use of bloody tools amid rats, roaches and bedbugs.<\/p>\n
Live by the Sword \u2014 which claims to have had 300,000 tat and piercing clients at its trendy SoHo and Williamsburg locations in the past decade \u2014 recently filed a $3 million lawsuit against three ex-piercers, claiming they \u201ccolluded\u201d to harm its business and \u201cknowingly [published] false and misleading statements, images and information\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n
The defamatory posts include pictures of spilled needles, dirty sinks, rodent and insect pests and stories of clients stepping in pools of blood, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court filing.<\/p>\n
A tattoo business filed a $3 million defamation lawsuit over social-media posts alleging \u201cdisgusting\u201d conditions involving rats, roaches and bed bugs on its premises. New York County Clerk<\/p>\n
The business \u201clikely lost several thousand current and prospective clients, totaling more than $1 million dollars, and [are] at risk of losing many more current and prospective clients\u201d because of the defamation, the lawsuit claimed.<\/p>\n
But the former workers \u2014 defending themselves in court papers and to The Post \u2014 said the suit against them is just tit for tat and that they are simply whistleblowers calling out unsafe conditions in an industry where sanitation is sacrosanct.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the main thing is to shut us up,\u201d said Marcy Mattes, who worked at LBTS for three years and claimed the conditions were \u201cdisgusting,\u201d to The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a matter of time before someone actually aired [it] out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The former worker\u2019s lawyer, Daniel Szalkiewicz, added, \u201cThe First Amendment and New York law prevents employers from suing former employees into silence about their bad practices.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a ridiculous lawsuit,\u201d said Samantha Vargas, one of the defendants. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n
While LBTS declined to comment on the lawsuit, it noted that a judge gave it a temporary restraining order against the defendants in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur studios operate in compliance with New York City Department of Health standards and sterilization protocols,\u201d the business said in a statement through their lawyer, referring to locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. \u201cWe remain committed to providing safe, professional, and high quality services to our clients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiki Karwacki, another defendant, kicked off the dust-up in December.<\/p>\n
One of the business\u2019s former piercers shared the first pictures in December alleging poor conditions. New York County Clerk<\/p>\n
She made an Instagram post she was leaving LBTS \u2014 and added a series of images taken inside the shop alleging to show a dead rat, roach, bedbugs and other unsanitary conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knows how many individuals exposed themselves to avoidable infections and\/or other complications,\u201d Karwacki said in court papers. \u201cI could not, in good conscience, allow this to continue without saying something.\u201d<\/p>\n
The posts went viral, and other former workers such as Mattes then shared posts of their own with similar accusations, with some going viral.<\/p>\n
Some employees allegedly took shortcuts in cleaning instruments. New York County Clerk<\/p>\n
LBTS co-owner Greg Ferreira said in court papers that \u201cnot a single health inspector\u2026has identified a health code or other regulatory violation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A city Health Department official confirmed to The Post that none of the several inspections at the business\u2019s shops in the past year resulted in violations.<\/p>\n
Ferreira said a dead rat at one of the establishments was a one-off because a worker left food out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He claimed a huge spend on sterilization and cleaning and filed a bevy of pest-servicing bills in the suit.<\/p>\n
Vargas is also being sued because of an \u201cunjust enrichment\u201d claim. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n
Many of the bills explicitly note the disposal of dead rats and roaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well before social-media posts aired the dirty laundry, workers voiced concerns over the breakdown in conditions, Mattes claimed to The Post and in court papers.<\/p>\n
Sharps disposal buckets were left on the floor instead of properly mounted to the wall and were frequently kicked over, spilling used, bloody needles on the floor, she said.<\/p>\n
A client once stepped in a \u201cgiant pool of blood\u201d as Mattes walked them to a room for a private piercing, she said.<\/p>\n
Mattes also alleged some employees took shortcuts by soaking tools and jewelry in disinfecting chemicals instead of using the $5,000 Autoclave sanitizing machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were only so many times that I could yell at other people to not be dirty and to not be disgusting,\u201d Mattes told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The business said it has serviced 300,000 clients over the years. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n
But the tat business claimed in its suit that the trio is attempting to \u201cenrich\u201d themselves by stealing their business, stating that Karwacki directed followers to get pierced by her partner and former LBTS employee Samantha Vargas.<\/p>\n
Vargas is also being sued \u2014 despite not posting anything about LBTS \u2014 because of that \u201cunjust enrichment\u201d claim.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty devastating,\u201d she told The Post. \u201cThey made [an] intentional choice to file on Christmas Eve \u2014 everything they\u2019ve been doing has been intentional, just to mess with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I\u2019m in the hole from paying for a lawyer,\u201d she said, adding that the posts did not result in more business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a ridiculous lawsuit,\u201d she said, \u201cI didn\u2019t do anything, and it felt really sh\u2013ty to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A popular Big Apple tattoo biz is suing former workers who went public over its alleged nasty conditions…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":641634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,18736,336,10476,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,118068,29631,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":["post-641633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-defamation","tag-lawsuits","tag-manhattan-supreme-court","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-tattoo","tag-tattoos","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116195320664394398","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}