Nature of the Case
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Facts
Posecai (P) shopped at Sam's then returned to her car in the parking lot, and a man hiding under her car grabbed her ankle, pointed a gun at her and then took $19,000 in jewels from her. P sued Wal-Mart(D) claiming it was negligent in failing to provide security guards for the parking lots. It was not dark when the robbery occurred. At the time of this armed robbery, a security guard was stationed inside the store to protect the cash office from 5:00 p.m. until the store closed at 8:00 p.m. D did not have security guards patrolling the parking lot. At trial, the inside security guard on duty, Kenner Police Officer Emile Sanchez, testified that he had worked security detail at D's since 1986 and was not aware of any similar criminal incidents occurring in D's parking lot during the nine years prior to the robbery of P. Two other Kenner police officers testified that the subdivision behind D's, Lincoln Manor, is generally known as a high crime area, but that the Kenner Police were rarely called out to D's. None of the other businesses in the area employed security guards at the time of this robbery. An expert on crime risk assessment testified about three predatory crimes committed at D's and about the 83 predatory offenses committed in 6.5 years at 13 other local businesses in the area. The expert concluded that the area around D was 'heavily crime impacted.' The court awarded P $28,968. The trial judge ruled that D was 75% at fault and the unknown perpetrator was only 25% at fault. D appealed. The court of appeal found that the trial judge erred in apportioning fault between D and the criminal who intentionally robbed P. It amended the judgment to find D solely at fault for the damages suffered by P.
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