Wedding Guest Sues Over 'Severe' Marijuana Injury

Caterer Joycelyn Bryant is accused of conspiring with bride Danya Svoboda to drug the meal
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2022 12:30 PM CST
Wedding's Pot-Laced Food Caused 'Permanent' Injury: Suit
Joycelyn Bryant.   (Seminole County Sheriff's Office)

A wedding guest is seeking more than $30,000 from the event's caterer, accused of secretly drugging the food. Authorities arrested Joycelyn Bryant of Joycelyn's Southern Kitchen, along with the bride who'd hired her, following the Feb. 19 wedding reception in Longwood, Florida, where guests had complained of feeling high or ill, including some who ended up at a hospital. In the lawsuit filed Monday in Seminole County, Virginia Ann Taylor-Svoboda claims she suffered "marijuana poisoning" and "severe, permanent injuries" after Bryant put cannabis in the food without the guests' knowledge, per Fox News.

Taylor-Svoboda accuses 31-year-old Bryant of negligence. Bryant "knew, or should have known, that allowing the food ... to be laced with marijuana was reasonably likely to cause injuries and damages to wedding guests," the suit reads. The CDC notes that using too much marijuana can cause delusions, extreme confusion, panic, and paranoia. It adds that consuming too much marijuana "can lead to poisoning and/or serious injury." Taylor-Svoboda's specific injuries aren't clear. She's seeking at least $30,000 in damages and a jury trial, per the Miami Herald.

Bryant is already facing charges of tampering, culpable negligence, and delivery of marijuana. She's due in court on Jan. 11. Though Taylor-Svoboda's suit doesn't name bride Danya Svoboda, 42, she's facing similar charges. A body camera video shared by WESH shows her smiling silently at a Seminole County sheriff's deputy who asks the newlyweds whether they permitted the food to be drugged. Her husband says "no." Police say Svoboda did in fact know the food would be drugged. According to a police report, Svoboda confirmed as much when confronted by a guest. Read more on the case here. (More drugging stories.)

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