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# Model was hired by nightclub
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/model-was-hired-by-nightclub/
- Published: 2002-05-07T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:16:20.000Z
- Author: Andrew Fixmer
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Model was hired by nightclub*

A GQ model who injured himself walking into a glass door at a Santa Monica nightclub was awarded $2,500 last week after he sued the club’s landlord for providing an unsafe work environment.

Tim Herzog was hired by GQ Magazine on March 28, 2001 to participate in an informal fashion show at Lush Nightclub and Restaurant, 2020 Wilshire Blvd. He then-was to “walk around and be seen” afterward.

But Herzog, who is also an actor, was injured after the fashion show when he walked into the glass door, splitting open his scalp. He said the dim lighting made the unmarked door invisible.

“It was this huge plate glass door,” Herzog said. “And when you look through the doorway, you can’t tell if anything is there.”

Friends rushed Herzog to the emergency room, where the gash above his forehead was treated and bandaged. The incident did not leave any permanent visible scars.

He sued the building’s owner for $5,000 to reimburse him for medical bills and lost wages because he had to cancel two engagements later that month.

The building is owned by the Ken Auerback Family Trust. Representatives from the trust argued that neither the landlord nor the club’s owner hired Herzog, who was technically an independent contractor hired by GQ.

Bates said the door in question leads to a kitchen and is used only by staff to enter and leave the club. The door is marked with a sign indicating is it for employees only, he said, and Herzog should not have been using it.

“As owners of the building, I don’t know why we are responsible for the (club’s) actions,” said Bruce Bates, Auerback Trust vice president. “They are clearly held liable in their lease for things like this.”

Herzog said he was unfamiliar with the club and was trying to enter any back rooms where people might be located.

“There were multiple doors and I was trying to go other areas of the club,” Herzog said. “My job was to be seen and I was trying to do that.”

Judge Pro Tem Richard Shcolnek of the Santa Monica Small Claims Court ruled Thursday that the liability for not marking the glass door should be split equally between the club’s owner and the landlord. He awarded Herzog $2,500, which will be paid solely by the landlord.

If Bates had been able to produce a copy of the lease that specified the club was liable for the interior of the building, Shcolnek said he would have been able to dismiss the case against the landlord.

Herzog said he had not decided whether he would file another lawsuit seeking the other half of the money from the club’s owner.

“I did this more out of principal than anything else,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll sue the club, but I think my point has been made.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 7, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/050702.pdf?ref=smdp.com)