Court Opinion

ID: 9666149
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:06:39.055509+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:24.177603
License: Public Domain

STEPHAN, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the position taken upon reassignment by the majority with respect to appellants’ Point II in the majority opinion. As indicated therein, plaintiffs claim that summary judgment was inappropriate because “special facts and circumstances” exist under the “violent crimes” exception because service stations are frequent targets of crime. Specifically, plaintiffs point to the affidavit of a retired police detective who stated that service stations without security booths and with unrestricted public access to the cash register were frequent targets of robbery, assault, murder, and other violent crimes in the St. Louis area between 1975 and 1985.
The trial court was also presented with an affidavit of Earl Jones, the employee on duty when the shooting occurred. Jones stated that the two assailants had been in the station twice that same day, before they returned for the third violent confrontation. Initially, Jones had encountered the two individuals sometime in the afternoon, when they attempted to obtain cash by using a Sunoco credit card. They were unsuccessful because this was against company policy. They returned at approximately 6:30 p.m., at which time they received $11.00 worth of gasoline. Since they did not have any money or a credit card to pay for the purchase, one subject remained at the station until the other returned and paid for the gas. The assailants returned to the station a third time, barely an hour later at approximately 7:40 p.m., and sat in the parking lot in their car, observing the station’s office. They remained in this posture for approximately twenty minutes. Well intentioned persons do not ordinarily simply sit and watch sales *748of gasoline being rung up on a cash register. Jones recognized this when he recorded the license number of their vehicle. The men then waited for a customer to leave, before they entered and robbed the station at gunpoint. A second affidavit presented to the trial court incorporated the police report, which reinforces the statements Jones made in his affidavit.
I believe that the facts and circumstances detailed in the aforementioned affidavits present a question of fact as to whether the assailants’ conduct would lead a reasonable person to believe that danger was imminent. Upon such a finding, there would exist a duty on the part of the owner of the premises to protect an invitee thereon from possible harm. Nappier v. Kincade, 666 S.W.2d 858, 861 (Mo.App.1984). Jones’ failure to activate the holdup device in his possession does not militate against a finding of liability but underscores the gravity of his failure to take an appropriate measure to protect his customer.
I would reverse and remand for trial.