Source: http://www.lawlink.com/research/CaseLevel3/64443
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 16:48:07+00:00

Document:
McAvoy & Korrey, David M. Korrey, Sugarman & Csillag, Arthur Csillag and Ronald Sugarman for Plaintiffs and Appellants.
Hollywood & Neil, Gina Lacagnina, Horvitz, Levy & Amerian, Barry R. Levy and Peter Abrahams for Defendants and Respondents.
Survivors and surviving family members of victims of the tragic 1984 massacre at McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, California, appeal a summary judgment in favor of McDonald's Corporation, and its franchisee, Bosherro 522 Partnership and Robert T. Colvin (McDonald's). They challenge a trial court determination that as a matter of law McDonald's had no duty to provide protection against mass murderous assaults. For the reasons which follow, we conclude such an event constitutes a hazard outside the boundaries of a restaurant's general duty to protect its patrons from reasonably foreseeable criminal acts of third parties. Further, assuming this event were a hazard within the scope of McDonald's protective duty, we conclude there exists no causal nexus between the proprietor's breach of duty to protect its patrons from reasonably foreseeable criminal acts of third parties and the injuries suffered by plaintiffs here. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.
On a clear and sunny day, James Oliver Huberty entered McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro dressed in camouflage pants and armed with a 9 mm. semiautomatic rifle, a semiautomatic 9 mm. pistol and a .12 gauge shotgun. He immediately began indiscriminately slaughtering patrons and employees within the glass-enclosed structure. During the hour of terror before he was killed by a police sharpshooter, Huberty showed no intent to [193 Cal.App.3d 501] rob the restaurant; made no demands for money; made no effort to take hostages; loaded his weapons several times; and killed 21 people in the restaurant and wounded 11 others. His single apparent purpose was to kill as many people as possible before he himself was slain.
Plaintiffs sued for damages for wrongful death and personal injuries fn. 1 on theories of negligence and premises liability, alleging McDonald's failed to provide adequate safety devices or security personnel to protect customers from dangerous and known risks. In support of their theory of liability, plaintiffs allege McDonald's knew its San Ysidro facility was in a high-crime area and its employees were so concerned over the criminal activity within the immediate vicinity they had solicited a private security company to offer its services to McDonald's. The security service's proposal to McDonald's management and ownership cited the area's high-crime rate, increasing gang activity and nearby incidents of violent crimes which would have endangered McDonald's patrons had they occurred on its premises. Claiming economic reasons, McDonald's declined the security service offer to provide a uniformed security officer at $5.75 an hour.
McDonald's motion for summary judgment contends this sudden and unprecedented mass slaying of customers within its restaurant was not foreseeable; imposing a duty to prevent such incidents is totally impracticable and contrary to public policy; and there is no causal connection between the alleged security inadequacies and the plaintiffs' injuries.
McDonald's filed a declaration of the assistant manager of its franchise and the San Diego Police Department lieutenant in charge of homicide to support its summary judgment motion. They established the undisputed facts of the incident. Further, the employee's declaration described Huberty's entry into the restaurant, his random shooting at everything and everyone in sight, the reloading of his automatic weapons and his walking up and down the aisles slaughtering all those he found still alive and that his only apparent motive was to randomly kill. fn. 2 The lieutenant's declaration echoed the employee's declaration, adding an investigation revealed Huberty kissed his wife goodbye and stated he was going "hunting for humans"; his act appeared to be that of a "demented, mentally unbalanced man, bent on murder and self-destruction"; upon entry into the restaurant, he systematically and without warning shot and killed patrons and employees until he apparently believed all were dead; and by the time of his death, he still had [193 Cal.App.3d 502] ample ammunition. To the officer's knowledge, there had never been an incident in San Diego involving such a deliberate, unprovoked random slaughter.
Plaintiffs presented evidence tending to show that between January 19, 1981 and July 18, 1984, the crimes committed on the restaurant premises included two robberies, two petty thefts, one unlawful use of vehicle, vandalism, grand theft and theft by fraud. During the same approximate time period, crime statistics revealed that within a one-tenth of a mile radius of the restaurant, six burglaries, five batteries, one assault with a deadly weapon, two drawings of a deadly weapon, numerous grand thefts and various other crimes were committed. During the same approximate time period within a two-tenths of a mile radius of the restaurant, five robberies, five batteries, three assaults with a deadly weapon, thirty-eight felony thefts, two drawing of deadly weapons and numerous other crimes against property, thefts and vandalism were committed. The FBI crime index for the fiscal year 1983-1984 shows the San Ysidro crime rate was higher than the city-wide crime rate in the following ratios: crimes generally were 125 percent; violent crimes were 228 percent; murder was 262.5 percent and rapes, etc. were 173.2 percent.
Other evidence showed that at the time of the incident, one could not see into the restaurant because of the bright sunlight glaring on the tinted [193 Cal.App.3d 503] windows; the site of the restaurant was elevated above other buildings in the surrounding area; and there was substantial graffiti throughout the immediate area. A summary of security systems of approximately 24 neighboring businesses showed they ranged from armed guards (at foreign currency exchanges), closed circuit T.V.'s, alarm systems with and without mobile security response, to periodic roving security patrols.
[4a] Acknowledging its duty to protect against reasonably foreseeable harm, McDonald's argues Huberty's armed, deranged attack was not the type of harm that was reasonably foreseeable. Moreover, it asserts it would be unreasonable to impose a burden of protecting against the type of harm involved here.
[4c] Guided by the foregoing, we conclude as a matter of law the Rowland factors and specifically the unforeseeability of the unique, horrific San Ysidro event require negligence liability to be restricted here. fn. 8 First, as to the foreseeability of harm to plaintiffs, the theft-related and property crimes of the type shown by the history of its operations, or the general assaultive-type activity which had occurred in the vicinity bear no relationship to purposeful homicide or assassination. In other words, under all the circumstances presented, the risk of a maniacal, mass murderous assault is not a hazard the likelihood of which makes McDonald's conduct unreasonably dangerous. Rather, the likelihood of this unprecedented murderous assault was so remote and unexpected that, as a matter of law, the general character of McDonald's nonfeasance did not facilitate its happening. Huberty's deranged and motiveless attack, apparently the worst mass killing by a [193 Cal.App.3d 510] single assailant in recent American history, fn. 9 is so unlikely to occur within the setting of modern life that a reasonably prudent business enterprise would not consider its occurrence in attempting to satisfy its general obligation to protect business invitees from reasonably foreseeable criminal conduct.
Plaintiffs' reliance on the evidence of mostly theft-related crimes on and nearby the San Ysidro premises and the crime rate in the surrounding area, to show the event here was reasonably foreseeable, is misplaced. We recognize foreseeability of third-party criminal conduct does not require prior identical or even similar incidents. (Isaacs v. Huntington Memorial Hospital, supra, 38 Cal.3d at p. 112.) However, here the proffered evidence does not portend disasters of this type. As McDonald's argues: "To the extent it can be foreseen at all, such an attack, like a meteor falling from the sky, can occur in any neighborhood regardless of the crime rate." Rather, the predominantly theft-related character of the crimes is simply probative of the foreseeability of such crimes, more precisely defining its duty to provide protective measures designed to deter theft-related and ordinary criminal conduct (i.e., vandalism). In comparison, not only was Huberty's crime not theft-related, but the narrow focus on slaughter and Huberty's obvious suicidal motive are unrelated to the area's general crime rate as a matter of law.
[12a] Apart from any "duty" analysis, the extraordinary facts of this case show as a matter of law there is no potential causal connection between McDonald's failure to provide security and plaintiffs' injuries.
[12e] Under the circumstances here, it cannot be reasonably urged that had McDonald's provided an unarmed, uniformed licensed security guard, the massacre would have been prevented or its extent diminished. The record defies such a conclusion. Rather, it paints a portrait of a demented, mentally unbalanced man, bent on murder and self-destruction, who viewed the nearby McDonald's restaurant with his binoculars from his apartment, kissed his wife goodbye and stated he was going "hunting for humans." Huberty set out to kill the most people possible and went to the restaurant, unconcerned with detection, dressed in camouflage fatigue pants and heavily armed. Upon entry into the restaurant, he immediately began firing his weapons indiscriminately at everything and everyone in sight, reloading his weapons periodically and walking up and down the aisles slaughtering those he found still alive. His only apparent motive was killing. He made no effort to rob the restaurant, made no demands for money, and made no effort to [193 Cal.App.3d 517] take hostages. His indiscriminate slaughter of human beings -- the worst mass killing by a single assailant in recent American history -- only ended when he believed all were dead and he was felled by a police sharpshooter.
On this record, we conclude plaintiffs have failed to establish any triable issue that there was a causal nexus between McDonald's nonfeasance, if any, and the resulting injuries. Any reasonable protective measure such as security cameras, alarms and unarmed security guards, might have deterred ordinary criminal conduct because of the potential of identification and capture, but could not reasonably be expected to deter or hinder a maniacal, suicidal assailant unconcerned with his own safety, bent on committing mass murder.
I concur for the reasons set forth in section IV.
I concur. The conclusion McDonald's did not have a duty to protect these unfortunate victims from Huberty's brief reign of terror is correct. As foreseeability is a consideration in the determination of that duty, and McDonald's owed no duty to protect the victims from Huberty, the lack of causal connection is necessarily subsumed in the duty analysis. Thus, I do not reach the issue of causation set out in section IV.
?FN 1. This case involves two consolidated actions for wrongful death and personal injuries, including Lopez et al. v. McDonald's Corp. et al., San Diego Superior Court Case No. 541624 and de Toscano et al. v. McDonald's Corp. et al., San Diego County Superior Court Case No. 545266.
?FN 2. The assistant manager further testified the interior of the restaurant was clearly visible to passersby and accessible by several entrances at the time Huberty entered the restaurant.
?FN 3. Holley further testified Huberty's wife stated her husband watched the McDonald's with his binoculars from the window of their apartment.
?FN 8. The notion it is inappropriate to apply the Rowland analysis to this case because it is already firmly settled a business establishment generally owes an affirmative duty to its customers to take reasonable precautions to protect them from reasonably anticipated criminal conduct of unknown third parties is fallacious. Not only does this recognized general duty rest upon a determination the third party's wrongful conduct was reasonably foreseeable under the circumstances, but also such a notion is inconsistent with the Supreme Court's analysis in Isaacs v. Huntington Memorial Hospital, supra, 38 Cal.3d at pages 123-129, acknowledging this general duty is simply the springboard from which a court determines whether one owes another a duty of care under the circumstances by applying the Rowland analysis.
?FN 10. In fact, plaintiffs contend the trial court violated their due process and equal protection rights by focusing on the nature of the crime and not the facts establishing the duty to protect against such a crime. In other words, they challenge any distinction which would promote multiple crime victim situations being treated any differently than single victim crime situations. However, no such distinction exists. We simply apply a uniform approach of evaluating a series of policy considerations, the principal of which is foreseeability of the risk of harm, to determine whether liability should be restricted.
?FN 11. Our characterization appears to be more general than that employed by the Supreme Court in Bigbee v. Pacific Tel. & Tel. Co., supra, 34 Cal.3d at pages 57-58. There, focusing on foreseeability within the context of breach of duty and causation, the general character of the event or harm was described as "being struck by a car while standing in a phone booth". Moreover, in Gregorian v. National Convenience Stores, Inc., supra, 174 Cal.App.3d at pages 949-950, the court characterized the type of harm within a third-party context as a "sudden attack of a ruthless young gang" and "gang violence". Additionally, in Gomez v. Ticor, supra, 145 Cal.App.3d at page 628, footnote 1, the foreseeable harm was generally characterized as an "attack on a patron who interrupts a criminal act." However, in Cohen v. Southland Corp., supra, 157 Cal.App.3d at page 140, this court described the general character of the foreseeable harm as an "injury of a store customer present during a criminal act."
?FN 13. We do not imply a business establishment can be sheltered from liability by nonfeasance and ignoring its obligation to make its establishment reasonably safe against foreseeable criminal conduct to third parties. Rather, we simply acknowledge that the type of unforeseeable criminal conduct involved here would require expensive protective measures of questionable deterrent value when confronted by an assailant bent on committing a mass murder. In other words, the kind of harm involved here cannot be deterred by such measures as security cameras and alarms which help deter ordinary criminal conduct because of the potential of identification and capture.
?FN 16. Granted, a trier of fact could perhaps determine a reasonable protective measure McDonald's could have pursued was that of a periodic roving, mobile security patrol with armed guards. However, it is doubtful the reaction time of such a patrol would have been better than that of law enforcement here (seven minutes).
?FN 17. We note that cause in fact is but a necessary condition precedent to the determination of whether the negligent act or omission constitutes the proximate or legal cause of the plaintiffs' injuries. (See 4 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (8th ed. 1974) Torts, ? 620, pp. 2901-2905; Prosser & Keeton on Torts (5th ed. 1984) ?? 41-42, pp. 263-280.) In other words, cause in fact is not necessarily the sine qua non of proximate cause, but the former reflects the necessity of a sufficient factual nexus between the negligent conduct and the injury while the latter represents the legal determination encompassing all the ill-defined considerations of policy which go to limit liability once cause in fact has been established.
?FN 18. Illustration "1" to Comment on subdivision (1) of Restatement Second of Torts, section 432, provides: "A statute requires all vessels plying on the Great Lakes to provide lifeboats. One of the A Steamship Company's boats is sent out of port without any such lifeboat. B, a sailor, falls overboard in a storm so heavy that had there been a lifeboat it could not have been launched in the sea then running. B is drowned. The A Company's failure to provide lifeboats is not a cause of B's death."

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.