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Brown v. All-Tech Investment Group12/15/2003
On July 29, 1999, Mark O. Barton went on a shooting spree at the offices of two day trading firms, killing nine people and injuring twelve. In these cases, six of the people who survived the wounds Barton inflicted, and the survivors of seven of the people who died, sued for damages resulting from Barton's attacks. The named defendants included the two day trading firms, All-Tech Investment Group, Inc. ("All-Tech") and Momentum Securities, Inc. ("Momentum"), and Barton Protective Services, Inc. ("BPS"), which provided security services at the two buildings. The appellants who were injured at All-Tech asserted liability as to Momentum (as well as to All-Tech), and vice versa.
After a hearing, the trial court granted the motions for summary judgment filed by All-Tech and Momentum (collectively, "the trading firms"). The trial court also granted BPS's motion for summary judgment, addressing the two locations in separate orders. The plaintiffs-below appeal these three orders, contending material questions of fact remain for jury resolution. For the reasons which follow, we affirm.
Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA ยง 9-11-56 (c). To obtain summary judgment, a defendant need not produce any evidence, but must only point to an absence of evidence supporting at least one essential element of the plaintiff's claim. Lau's Corp. v. Haskins, 261 Ga. 491 (405 SE2d 474) (1991). We apply a de novo standard of review to an appeal from a grant of summary judgment and view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the non-movant.
(Citation omitted.) Ponder v. Brooks, 256 Ga. App. 596, 597 (569 SE2d 267) (2002).
Viewed in this light, the record shows the following undisputed facts.
Day Trading. Day trading is a form of financial securities trading in which traders place multiple buy and sell orders for securities and hold the positions for a very short period of time, usually less than one day, seeking to profit from the daily fluctuations in stock prices. In exchange for a commission on each trade, All-Tech and Momentum, as day trading firms, provided their customers access to computer terminals and specialized computer software used in day trading. At each of these trading firms, the terminals were located on a "trading floor": a large common room which was not locked or otherwise secured during business hours.
Day trading is highly speculative. A large majority of day traders fail to profit from their trading. All-Tech and Momentum each had policies to screen new day traders for suitability. Each provided new day traders with extensive disclosures about the risks of day trading and instructed day traders to use only "risk capital" for trading. Each had policies to monitor their customers' success and to reevaluate the suitability of customers whose accounts lost a certain percentage in a certain period of time.
The Security Contracts. During the relevant times, All-Tech and Momentum each operated a day trading office in rented space on Piedmont Road in Atlanta: All-Tech in Building Eight of Piedmont Center and Momentum across the street at Two Securities Centre. Under separate contracts with the property managers, BPS provided security services at Piedmont Center and Two Securities Centre. In its contract with the management of Piedmont Center, BPS agreed to provide unarmed "protective services", including the following: to inform property management about severe weather and fire alarms, bomb threats, and power failures, to assist in evacuation
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