Case Name: Willie Joe BOLDEN v. WINN DIXIE & XYZ Insurance Company
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1987-09-04
Citations: 513 So. 2d 341
Docket Number: No. CA-6271
Parties: Willie Joe BOLDEN v. WINN DIXIE & XYZ Insurance Company.
Judges: Before CIACCIO, WARD, WILLIAMS and ARMSTRONG, JJ., and CADE, J. Pro Tem.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 513
Pages: 341–345

Head Matter:
Willie Joe BOLDEN v. WINN DIXIE & XYZ Insurance Company.
No. CA-6271.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Sept. 4, 1987.
Writ Denied Nov. 20, 1987.
Julian G. Baudier, Robert, Katz, Baudier & Broussard, New Orleans, for plaintiff-ap-pellee.
Elizabeth S. Cordes, Christovich & Kear-ney, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.
Before CIACCIO, WARD, WILLIAMS and ARMSTRONG, JJ., and CADE, J. Pro Tem.

Opinion:
ARMSTRONG, Judge.
Plaintiff, Willie Joe Bolden, sued Winn Dixie for injuries she sustained from being knocked to the ground while store employees attempted to apprehend a shoplifter. A trial was held on April 30, 1986 and a judgment in the amount of $3,405.00 in favor of the plaintiff was rendered on May 2, 1986. Defendant, Winn Dixie appeals. We affirm.
At the trial Mr. Stepter, the manager of the meat department testified that he saw a man attempting to steal some pork chops. Stepter confronted the man and took him to the rear of the store to the meat cutting area. Stepter testified that while they waited for the police, who were being summoned by the store manager, he and another employee, Mr. Jones, continued with their work and a third employee, Mr. Carroll, guarded the shoplifter. Stepter testified that Caroll was talking to the shoplifter "but as he was talking to him the guy kind of relaxed and just really got careless and Mr. Caroll turned away and I turned away and at that point he (the shoplifter) broke out of the door running." In the ensuing chase the plaintiff was knocked to the ground, and suffered injuries to her back. Although there was conflicting testimony regarding the identity of the person who collided with Ms. Bolden, the weight of the testimony indicates that the shoplifter shoved Ms. Bolden to the side of the aisle, causing her to fall.
Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in making the following findings:
Applying the principles ennunciated in Harris v. Pizza Hut, 455 So.2d 1364 (Supreme Court, 1984) and in Martin v. Piggly Wiggly, 469 So.2d 1057 (2nd Cir.1985) the court concludes that the defendant Winn-Dixie is negligent under the facts and circumstances of this case. The employees should have paid more attention to the shoplifter and not relaxed their guard as indicated .
In Martin v. Piggly Wiggly, supra, there was a similar factual situation. In that case a known shoplifter, Tasby, entered the Piggly Wiggly Store and began to eat some doughnuts. A store security guard approached Tasby and asked him to accompany her to a "security area." Tasby did so while an assistant manager summoned the police. A security guard then searched Tasby and discovered a package taped to his chest beneath his coat. At that point Tasby started "bending over," indicating to the security guard that he intended to run. As the guard attempted to handcuff Tasby she was knocked to the floor by a woman who had come to Tasby's aid. Tasby fled. He ran into a patron, Martin, causing him to fall on top of his granddaughter, and when Martin tried to get up Tasby struck him in the mouth with the handcuffs.
On behalf of himself and his granddaughter, Martin filed suit against Piggly Wiggly seeking damages for personal injuries resulting from Tasby's actions. The trial court rendered judgment in favor of Piggly Wiggly. Plaintiffs appealed claiming, among other things, that the employees failed to adequately subdue the suspect thereby allowing him to escape.
In reviewing that issue the Martin court applied the duty-risk analysis used in Harris v. Pizza Hut of Louisiana, 455 So.2d 1364 (La.1984), that court restated the analysis as follows:
Applying a duty-risk approach, the inquiry is: (1) whether the conduct of which the plaintiff complains was a cause in fact of the harm; (2) whether there was a duty on the part of the defendant to protect against the risk involved; (3) whether there was a breach of that duty.
Martin, 469 So.2d at 1059.
In its review of the evidence the Martin court noted that Tasby, a shoplifter known to the security guards at the Piggly Wiggly, and who had apparently been detained by them before, had not previously been violent or attempted to escape. The Martin court found that the defendant had not failed to adequately subdue Tasby reasoning as follows:
Failure to adequately subdue this suspect is appellants' third complaint. Were the steps taken to subdue Tasby reason able? "But for" the unforeseen complicity of Tasby's woman friend who prevented him from being handcuffed, it is unlikely that Tasby would have been able to harm anyone. According to testimony of the Director of Loss Prevention, his guards were following standard procedure in detaining the suspect. Before the unanticipated intervention, all the steps taken to detain the suspect were successful. Appellants have failed to show how the guards acted unreasonably, consequently we find no breach of any duty by the store to detain the suspect. Furthermore, the cause of Tasby's flight was the intervention of his friend rather than anything done by the guards.
Martin, 469 So.2d at 1060.
While the facts of the Martin case are somewhat similar, the factual differences between that case and the instant case are significant enough to require a different result.
As in Martin, the conduct of which the plaintiff complains in the instant case is the failure of the Winn Dixie employees to properly guard the shoplifter, thereby preventing his attempted escápe.
Clearly, if the Winn Dixie employees had been more vigilant and not turned away while guarding the shoplifter he probably would not have attempted to escape as he did. Thus it is reasonable to conclude that the Winn Dixie employees' failure to guard the shoplifter caused the shoplifter to attempt an escape which led to Ms. Bolden's accident.
In addition, there can be no question that Winn Dixie had a duty in this instance. "Owners of businesses who permit the public to enter their establishments have a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect those who do enter." Martin, 469 So.2d at 1059. "Generally, there is no duty to protect others from the criminal activities of third persons. However, when a duty to protect others against such criminal misconduct has been assumed, liability may be created by a negligent breach of that duty." Harris, 455 So.2d at 1371 (citations omitted).
Once Winn Dixie employees undertook the duty of guarding the shoplifter they were bound to exercise reasonable care in carrying out that duty. There is no indication in the record that the employees of Winn Dixie had any prior dealings with the shoplifter herein. There is no evidence in the record to support a conclusion that the shoplifter was especially cooperative and tame. Furthermore, although the shoplifter did not resist when he was detained, it is clearly foreseeable that a person detained for willful criminal conduct will attempt to escape by running away if given the opportunity to do so. Relaxing one's guard and looking away while one is guarding a criminal under these circumstances is not reasonable. Winn Dixie's employees did not exercise reasonable care and hence Winn Dixie breached its duty to protect its customers.
In conclusion we find that the conduct of Winn Dixie's employees was a cause in fact of harm to one of its customers; that Winn Dixie had a duty to protect its customers; and that Winn Dixie breached that duty. Thus the trial court's finding that Winn Dixie was negligent is correct.
For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
CIACCIO, J., dissents and assigns reasons.