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Florida lawyer accused of hitting man on head with dinner plate after wedding buffet butt-in

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 13, 2025, 1:57 pm CST

Updated: A 52-year-old Florida lawyer has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for allegedly hitting a wedding guest over the head with a dinner plate—an accusation that he denies.

Mark Stuart Roher of Florida was arrested Jan. 18 after police were called to the Boca Lago Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, report the New York Post (via Above the Law), Newsweek, the Miami New Times, WPEC, Law & Crime (here and here) and BocaNewsNow.com.

Roher was later released on a $1,000 bond.

Roher told police that he was upset because people ahead of him had cut in a buffet line, identified as a prime rib carving station by BocaNewsNow.com. Roher admitted that he got in an argument with the victim and shoved him, but Roher denied hitting him on the head with a plate, according to a police report cited by Law & Crime.

The victim told police that he let his niece get in line ahead of him and then agreed to let two other girls join her, police said in a probable cause affidavit. One of the girls was identified as the victim’s daughter. After the argument began, the victim alleged, he was hit over the head with a plate and then shoved and grabbed by the collar by Roher, who was holding a plate over his head.

The victim said the person who hit him with a plate was a woman in a black dress. A worker, however, said the person who hit the victim with a plate was Roher.

A “melee” followed, according to a police report cited by several publications. Roher told police that “numerous people” beat him up, Law & Crime reports.

Roher is represented by Michelle Suskauer and Tyler DiMaio of Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein in West Palm Beach, Florida. Suskauer gave this statement to the ABA Journal:

“Mr. Roher is a well-respected and experienced attorney who assists individuals and businesses through the complicated bankruptcy process. He flatly denies the allegations and has entered a plea of not guilty.”

Story updated Feb. 14 at 10:48 a.m. to add Suskauer’s statement.

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A Canadian man whose wife and 8-year-old son got sick and died after eating at a buffet at a Dominican Republic resort within 24 hours of arriving at their destination has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Stephen Gougeon, 38, filed his nearly $7 million lawsuit on Jan. 27, in the deaths of his wife, April Gougeon, 41, and his son Oliver Gougeon.

“We planned this trip so our family could get some rest and relaxation. The thought that something like this could happen was the furthest thing from our minds,” Stephen Gougeon said in a statement through his lawyer.

In an interview with the New York Times, he said, “I don’t think I’ll ever recover. I’ve lost my wife, who I loved so much, and my son, who was just such a beautiful person and who I was so looking forward to seeing grow up.”