Court Opinion

ID: 9670829
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:26:52.104531+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:06.747545
License: Public Domain

DAVIES, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
There is no affirmative duty on an individual to control the conduct of a third person to prevent harm to another unless a special relationship exists. Delgado v. Lohmar, 289 N.W.2d 479, 483 (Minn.1979). (A special relationship may arise where one invites an individual onto one’s premises and that individual in some way entrusts her safety to the inviter who, in turn, has accepted that en-trustment. Erickson v. Curtis Inv. Co., 447 N.W.2d 165, 168 (Minn.1989); see also Harper v. Herman, 499 N.W.2d 472, 474 (Minn.1993) (special relationship exists between public and possessors of land held open to the public).
I believe that here, Errico successfully established a special relationship that imposed on Southland a duty to Errico — a duty to respond reasonably to criminal activity on its premises.1
Southland operated a retail store and, therefore, invited customers onto its premises. Errico was a customer at the time the confrontation began at the pay phone. (Southland shares in the telephone revenues, and Errico had just made a purchase from Southland’s store.) Under these circumstances, some minimal duty was owed by Southland and its duty extended, at least, to sounding an alarm by calling 911 when it became aware of criminal activity on its property. That alarm might have minimized Emco’s injuries, and, at least, would have helped the police do their job of protecting the public.
I do not suggest that the special relationship here requires Southland to patrol the lot or to provide armed guards; it does, however, require Southland and its employees to keep a proper “lookout” over activities occurring on the “well-lit” parking area. At a minimum, store employees, having discovered unlawful and dangerous activity in the store parking area, should call the police, rather than merely pulling up seats for a ringside view.
Thus, I believe that a special relationship existed between Southland and Errico, and that Southland had a duty to provide minimal, cost-free protection to Errico against these criminal acts of unidentified third persons. While Errico may still have a problem showing that Southland’s neglect caused any injury, that issue is for a jury to decide. Hamilton v. Independent Sch. Dist. No. 114, 355 N.W.2d 182, 184 (Minn.App.1984).
I would reverse the grant of summary judgment to Southland and allow Errico to proceed with her case.

. I do not find necessary (or even relevant) to this duty or to the level of care required that Southland operated a 24-hour convenience store in a high-crime neighborhood or that the store was often the scene of criminal activity or was the place from which such criminal activity was reported to the police. It is also not relevant that the police had voiced concerns to Southland about the high level of criminal activity at this store, about the fact that there was not enough security in and around the store, and about the store's practice of allowing people to loiter in its parking lot.
It is enough that Southland sought customers and, by lighting its parking area, gave those customers who came some legitimate expectation of increased security.