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Medina v. Hillshore Partners11/21/1995
YEGAN, J.:
Norma Laura Medina, individually and as guardian ad litem for her son Carlos Antonio Medina, appeals from a judgment of dismissal entered after the trial court sustained, without leave to amend, the demurrer of respondents Hillshore Partners dba Hillshore Garden Apartments, James Boyd, and Interstate Equities Corporation (hereafter landowner).
Appellants contend that landowner was liable for the death of Juan Carlos Medina because gang members were allowed to congregate in and around a Santa Barbara apartment complex owned by landowner. The gang assaulted the decedent who was walking near the apartments and chased him down a dead-end street. One of the gang members, a nonresident of the apartment complex, shot and killed decedent. The trial court ruled that the first amended complaint failed to state a cause of action for negligence or premises liability. We affirm.
The Complaint
The first amended complaint alleges that Julio Rea resided at the Hillshore Garden Apartments, owned and managed by landowner. Rea and defendants, Jose Rogelio Arroyo, Anthony Ortega, John Villa, Edgar S., and Eric S., were members of a street gang called the "Westsiders."
On June 27, 1993, Juan Carlos Medina walked by the apartments. Rea and his companions thought decedent belonged to a rival gang and chased him. Appellants alleged that the gang chased decedent "down Modoc Road, one half block and up to a dead-end street (Hacienda Court), adjacent to Hillshore Apartments. . . . As decedent ran up Hacienda Court, defendant John Villa, possessing the 22-calibre handgun of Anthony Ortega, aimed it at decedent, and shot him in the back of the head. After decedent fell to the ground, juvenile defendant Eric S. walked over to decedent and threw a brick at him, striking his person."
Prior to the shooting, the Westsiders used the apartment complex as their home base to commit criminal offenses. Tenants and law enforcement officials complained to the landowner about the gang. Appellants alleged that landowner negligently maintained and controlled the apartment complex by failing to take security precautions, such as evicting Rea or barring gang members from the premises.
The Demurrer and Ruling
Landowner demurred on the theory that he breached no duty of care. It relied on Martinez v. Pacific Bell (1990) 225 Cal. App. 3d 1557, 275 Cal. Rptr. 878 in arguing that the duty of a landowner to protect the safety of the public does not extend beyond the property line.
The trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend, cited Martinez v. Pacific Bell, supra, for the rule that premises liability ends where the control of the property owner ends, and said: "The facts alleged in the complaint are that Medina was killed off the premises, in the public street, by a Westsider who was not a tenant of Hillshore. No tenant of Hillshore is stated to have directly aided or encouraged Villa in killing Medina. While plaintiffs allege that failure to properly control the premises played a part in causing Medina's death, the actual facts stated in the complaint do not so show. Villa was not a tenant, and could not have been evicted. There is no showing that evicting certain other gang members, assuming such were legally possible, would have somehow prevented Villa from killing Medina. There is simply no causal nexus alleged between the condition of the property and Villa's independent, intentional tort of killing Medina."
Standard of Review and Judicial Notice
We accept the factual allegations of the complaint as true ( Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39
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