Morris v. De La Torre

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION Charles Morris filed a negligence action against Silvino De La Torre, the owner of a taco shop, arising from the criminal conduct of a gang member who seized a knife from the shop's kitchen and used it to stab Morris while Morris was in the parking lot in front of the shop. The trial court granted summary judgment in De La Torre's favor, finding the incident was not sufficiently foreseeable to impose a duty of care. Although we agree with the court's foreseeability analysis, we reverse the judgment because the court failed to distinguish between a business owner's duty to take protective measures to deter future criminal conduct, and the duty to respond to contemporaneous criminal acts occurring on property used by the business.