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Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Ind. Courts - Court of Appeals Holds Oral Argument at Plainfield High School in Hendricks County
Next Tuesday, May 22nd, the Indiana Court of Appeals will hear oral argument in David Schlotman v. Taza Café D/B/A Gyro Joint at 1:00 p.m. at Plainfield High School. A panel of Judge Edward W. Najam, Jr., Judge Melissa S. May, and Judge Paul D. Mathias will hear the case on appeal from Marion Superior Court.
Among other questions regarding negligence and evidence, the Court is asked to decide whether the proprietor of a carry-out restaurant has a duty to protect a patron who is attacked while eating his food at a table the proprietor has placed outside the restaurant.Regular readers of the ILB may recall the Taco Bell case (Sonya Winchell v. Remco Guy, et al.), where, according to story by the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's Niki Kelly on Dec. 6, 2006:Arguing for the appellant, Mr. Schlotman, is Timothy Devereux of the Hensley Legal Group; John Mervilde of Meils, Thompson, Dietz & Berish will argue for the Gyro Joint.
The Court of Appeals found there is long-standing precedent that “proprietors owe a duty to their business invitees to use reasonable care to protect them from injury caused by other patrons and guests on their premises, including providing adequate staff to police and control disorderly conduct.”See the Dec. 6th ILB entry here.Winchell contends in her suit that Taco Bell was aware of the potential for violence, as evidenced by its closing the interior of the restaurant at midnight. Also, the restaurant had installed a closed-circuit video monitoring system equipped with a panic button and hired off-duty police officers for security.
But on that Wednesday night there was no security guard and the video monitoring system was in a closet not readily accessible to employees.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 15, 2007 02:43 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts