Negligence Suit Based Upon Shooting at Shopping Mall Dismissed

The Third Department affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the defendant shopping mall in a negligence suit based upon a shooting at the mall in which plaintiffs were injured.  The Court determined the shooting was not foreseeable and explained the relevant legal principles as follows:

Landowners have a duty to take reasonable precautions to secure their premises from foreseeable harm, including the foreseeable criminal acts of third parties on the premises….    Criminal conduct is foreseeable if it was “reasonably predictable based on the prior occurrence of the same or similar criminal activity at a location sufficiently proximate to the subject location”….   While the prior criminal activity need not have been “at the exact location where [the] plaintiff was harmed or . . . of the same type of criminal conduct to which [the] plaintiff was subjected,” the inquiry of foreseeability depends upon “the location, nature and extent of those previous criminal activities and their similarity, proximity or other relationship to the crime in question”… Haire v Bonelli …, 515494, 3rd Dept, 6-13-13

THIRD PARTY ASSAULT