Premises liability.(restaurant owner sued)

Security Management, January, 2006 by Anderson, Teresa

PREMISES LIABILITY. The California Supreme Court has ruled that a restaurant patron who was assaulted in the parking lot can pursue a premises liability claim against the restaurant owner.

Silvino De La Torre owns and operates Victoria's Mexican Food, a restaurant located in a small shopping center in San Diego. At the time, five other businesses, all with daytime hours, were situated in the shopping center along with Victoria's, which operated 24 hours a day. The businesses shared the parking area, and De La Torre paid 20 percent of the maintenance costs for the parking lot.

The restaurant had a storefront made of plate glass windows that allowed patrons to look out on the parking lot. A kitchen area, which housed a private telephone, was located at...

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