Court Opinion

ID: 9792025
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:22:09.937779+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:39.952468
License: Public Domain

Mowbray, J.,
dissenting:
Respectfully, I dissent.
Craigo while a guest in the Circus-Circus casino-hotel was criminally assaulted and robbed. He sued seeking compensatory *23and punitive damages. The case was tried before the court sitting without a jury. The district judge as the trier of fact found in Craigo’s favor and awarded him both compensatory and punitive damages. Circus-Circus seeks reversal of the punitive damage award. I would affirm the award. The evidence in this record is substantial. It adequately supports the decision of the fact finder, the district judge.
On appeal, Circus-Circus suggests that the award of punitive damages in the instant case was error. I do not agree. Craigo as a guest in the casino-hotel had a right to be treated as such and not to be criminally assaulted and robbed. Circus-Circus had a duty to secure the safety and security of its guests who are entitled to nothing less. In my opinion, Circus-Circus should have taken the necessary steps to eradicate the criminal element that hide and prey in the parking area, halls and elevators of its premises for the purpose of criminally assaulting and robbing the unsuspecting guests who patronize its place of business. This, as I see it, is the bottom line and real predicate for the award by the district court of punitive damages which I would affirm.