Hassoon v. Shamieh

On the evening of January 31, 1997, plaintiff Jamal Hassoon was wounded when he was hit by a round fired from a semiautomatic weapon by a passerby. The shooting occurred as Hassoon stood in Daldas Grocery, defendants' grocery store on Eddy Street in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. Plaintiff filed this suit for personal injury damages against the store's owners and one of their employees, alleging defendants had breached a duty of care to protect him from violent acts by third parties while he was present on their premises. Following a period of discovery, defendants moved the trial court for an order granting them summary judgment on the ground that, because the shooting was not reasonably foreseeable, they owed plaintiff no duty of care that could be breached to support liability in tort. After the trial court granted the motion, plaintiff timely filed this appeal. We affirm. BACKGROUND