Opinion ID: 2586366
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Duty to Hire Security Guards and Maintain Brighter Lighting

Text: At oral argument, plaintiffs attorney urged this court, as an alternative to the asserted landlord duties discussed above, to affirm the Court of Appeal's determination that Olsher had a duty to hire and deploy security guards to prevent gang violence in the mobilehome park and to maintain brighter lights in the common areas. To establish the heightened foreseeability necessary to impose a heavily burdensome duty such as hiring-security guards, we have explained, the plaintiff must show the existence of prior similar incidents on the premises or other sufficiently serious indications of a reasonably foreseeable risk of violent criminal assaults. ( Delgado, supra, 36 Cal.4th at p. 240, 30 Cal.Rptr.3d 145, 113 P.3d 1159.) Criminal incidents at an immediate[ly] proximat[e] ... substantially similar business establishment can help to show the requisite foreseeability. ( Ann M., supra, 6 Cal.4th at p. 679, fn. 7, 25 Cal.Rptr.2d 137, 863 P.2d 207; accord, Delgado, at p. 238, fn. 16, 30 Cal.Rptr.3d 145, 113 P.3d 1159.) Plaintiff argues that here the 1996 incident of gang gunplay on an adjacent empty lot, which involved a resident of the mobilehome park, together with the gang graffiti, complaints of gang members and wannabes living at the park, and other crimes occurring there was sufficient to put Olsher on notice that gang violence was likely to erupt at the park if no protective measures were taken. Defendants, on the other hand, emphasize that until plaintiffs shooting no known incidents of gang gun violence or hostile gang confrontations had occurred at the park itself. The mere presence of gang members, defendants argue, did not make gang violence highly foreseeable. While insisting defendants should have hired security guards, plaintiffs counsel, at oral argument, also disavowed any claim that a guard would have been able to break up or quell the quickly developing late-night confrontation in which plaintiff was injured. Instead, counsel argued, the simple existence of guard patrols at the mobilehome park would likely have discouraged gangs from congregating there. Be that as it may, the injury in this case did not arise out of a public gang gathering. According to the only testifying eyewitness, Christina Sandoval, Paul Levario and one other member of the Northside gang, Manuel Viloria, were inside the Levario home when the car with Westside gang members drove up and the confrontation began. Plaintiff presented no evidence to suggest that having security guards at the park would likely have deterred Levario from entertaining an individual guest inside his home, nor does common experience suggest any such an effect was likely. Whatever protective effect security guards might be shown to have against violent crime in other circumstances (compare Saelzler v. Advanced Group 400, supra, 25 Cal.4th at pp. 775-777, 107 Cal.Rptr.2d 617, 23 P.3d 1143, with id. at pp. 783-784, 107 Cal.Rptr.2d 617, 23 P.3d 1143 (dis. opn. of Kennard, J.) and id. at pp. 788-790, 107 Cal.Rptr.2d 617, 23 P.3d 1143 (dis. opn. of Werdegar, J.)), here there was no evidence to support a verdict in plaintiffs favor on the issue of causation, even viewing plaintiffs evidence in the light most favorable to him. The same is true as to maintenance of the park's common-area lighting. While plaintiffs sister testified the street lights in the area of their mobilehome did not work or were inadequate, Sandoval testified that during the argument leading up to the shooting she could see that one of the occupants of the mobilehome across the street had an object that looked like a gun, and she recognized the gunman from school. Given that the occupants of the mobilehome on space 23 were willing to engage in an armed confrontation with rival gang members where lighting allowed their weapon to be seen and themselves to be recognized, plaintiff simply has not shown that the absence of brighter lights was likely a substantial factor in producing the confrontation and ensuing gunshot. Even viewed in a light favorable to plaintiff, the record contains insufficient evidence for a jury to find the absence of security guards and inadequate lighting were substantial factors causing the injury. Nonsuit was therefore proper.