THEATER NOT LIABLE FOR THIRD PARTY ASSAULT IN PARKING LOT, ASSAULT WAS SUDDEN AND WAS NOT FORESEEABLE (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant movie theater's (Regal's) motion for summary judgment in this parking lot assault case should have been granted. The third-party assault by Casallas-Gonzalez was sudden and was not foreseeable:
A landlord is under a duty to take minimal precautions to protect its tenants and invitees from foreseeable harm, “including the harm caused by a third party's foreseeable criminal conduct on the premises”… . “To establish that criminal acts were foreseeable, the criminal conduct at issue must be shown to be reasonably predictable based on the prior occurrence of the same or similar criminal activity at a location sufficiently proximate to the subject location” … . Knowledge of ambient neighborhood crime, standing alone, is insufficient to establish foreseeability … .
Here, Regal established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law through the submission of evidence demonstrating that the physical altercation between the injured plaintiff and Casallas-Gonzalez was a sudden and unforeseeable event that could not have been anticipated or prevented by the provision of greater security measures … . Regal also established prima facie that the alleged criminal acts committed by Casallas-Gonzalez were not reasonably predictable … . Muzafarov v Casallas-Gonzalez, 2018 NY Slip Op 05771, Second Dept 8-15-18
NEGLIGENCE (THIRD PARTY ASSAULT, THEATER NOT LIABLE FOR THIRD PARTY ASSAULT IN PARKING LOT, ASSAULT WAS SUDDEN AND WAS NOT FORESEEABLE (SECOND DEPT))/ASSAULT (LANDLORD'S LIABILITY FOR THIRD PARTY ASSAULT, THEATER NOT LIABLE FOR THIRD PARTY ASSAULT IN PARKING LOT, ASSAULT WAS SUDDEN AND WAS NOT FORESEEABLE (SECOND DEPT))/LANDLORD-TENANT (ASSAULT, LIABILITY FOR THIRD PARTY ASSAULT, THEATER NOT LIABLE FOR THIRD PARTY ASSAULT IN PARKING LOT, ASSAULT WAS SUDDEN AND WAS NOT FORESEEABLE (SECOND DEPT))