John Rich Accused Of Assault

Big and Rich's John Rich photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Nov. 13, 2008 — Four weeks after John Rich bloodied the face of a hard-rock bass player, the Big & Rich singer is the subject of a lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles on Monday.

Jerry Montano, who Rich allegedy hit in the face with a glass at a room in the Mondrian Hotel on the Sunset Strip, asked for unspecified damages, according to TMZ.com, which posted a copy of the claim on its site. Montano asks to be reimbursed for his medical expenses and court costs, in addition to general, special and punitive damages.

Police were called to the Mondrian in the early hours Oct. 17 after the incident. Montano declined at the time to file charges and suggested that he walked into a glass object John was flailing around the room. But the suit indicates John smashed Montano’s face intentionally after getting drunk at the Rainbow Club.

According to the suit, John repeatedly bragged about getting into a fight at another club the previous night and tried to pick fights with other patrons at the Rainbow. Back at the Mondrian, he goaded Montano in calling a female friend to the room. John eventually lost control when he "realized the female was only interested in talking to him and nothing else," the suit alleges.

The suit provided an amusing undercurrent to John’s appearance on Wednesday’s "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards." He joined Heidi Newfield in presenting the Vocal Group of the Year honor, suggesting they had been "accused of being a tad too vocal in our presentation sometimes."