In a notorious incident in August 1999, admitted anti-Semite Buford Furrow entered the property of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, California, where the Center was offering a children's summer camp. He opened fire on staff and campers, injuring a receptionist, a teenage counselor and three little boys, among them 5-year old Benjamin Kadish. In a case revisiting California law on the duty of property owners to protect against the criminal acts of third parties, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled the the Community Center cannot be held liable to Benjamin or to his brother (who witnessed the shooting) or parents for damages arising from Benjamin's injuries.
The appellate court's decision offers a useful compilation of California law in this area, and engages in a detailed analysis of the application of the principles of landowner liability first set forth by the California Supreme Court in Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108. The Court reaffirms the general principle that a landowner is unlikely to be held liable for criminal attacks unless there is a history of at least one prior similar incident. In particular, the Court rejected arguments that the Community Center should have heightened security based on an increase in amorphous and unspecific threats, none of which were traceable to the person who eventually launched an attack. The court's conclusion:
The [Center] did not know of have reason to know that someone was planning to shoot and kill children attending Camp Valley Chai. Nothing in the [Center's] past experience of the place or character of the community center or the camp provided even a hint of what was to come.In closing, we note that events subsequent to the shooting at the North Valley Center have instilled public fear of criminal acts never before imagined. The Twin Towers in New York City were destroyed in a matter of minutes with great loss of life. The United States Department of Homeland Security issues warnings of possible future terrorist activities. And snipers pick off people who are going about their daily routines.
In this day and age, new threats are often imagined, but the question before us depends upon an application of the Rowland factors to actual threats made prior to Furrow's rampage at the North Valley Centery on August 10, 1999. Accordingly, as stated, the [Center] did not have a duty to protect plaintiffs from harm.
The decision in Kadish v. Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles (October 10, 2003), Case No. B159740, is available at these links in PDF and Word formats.
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