Merrill v. Navegar

(concurring and Concurring & Dissenting opns., attached) CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION INTRODUCTION On July 1, 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri (Ferri) entered 101 California Street, a high-rise office building in San Francisco, armed with two semiautomatic assault weapons manufactured and distributed by respondent Navegar, Inc. (Navegar), 250 rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition, as well as a third weapon, a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Proceeding to the 34th floor premises of a law firm against which he held a grudge, Ferri cold-bloodedly opened fire on persons in the offices and hallways of this and two lower floors, ultimately killing eight men and women and wounding six others before fatally shooting himself in a stairwell. Appellants, the survivors and representatives of some of those who died, brought suit against Navegar on three theories of liability: common law negligence, negligence per se, and strict liability for ultrahazardous activities. Their complaints survived Navegar's demurrers but, on May 6, 1997, the trial court granted Navegar's motion for summary judgment as to all three causes of action. Appellants appeal this ruling as to their claims of ordinary negligence and ultrahazardous activity, but not as to their claim for negligence per se.