Texas Supreme Court
Joe Stephens argued a famous reported case before the Texas Supreme Court
The case arose out of the wrongful death of Luis Gutierrez. He was shot and killed during a robbery at the Quarry Market Mall in San Antonio. The mall had a known crime problem on its premises. There had been over 200 major crimes on the property with 14 of them very violent such as aggravated robbery, bank robbery, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Despite the known problem, the mall’s property manager Trammell Crow did not provide any visible security in or around its 53 acre parking lot. Instead, it provided undercover security guards.
The defense was that Mr. Gutierrez was the victim of a violent personal and targeted attack due to the manner of the attack. We argued that the attack was more consistent with a random robbery because the assailant took Mr. Gutierrez bracelet and wallet.
The jury found that the mall was negligent in failing to provide adequate security to protect the patrons, given the mall’s knowledge of the known risk that its patrons were placed in harm’s way when they shopped at the Quarry. The trial judge affirmed the jury’s $6.5 million dollar award and entered judgment against Trammell Crow. The 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio upheld the award.
The argument you see below is Mr. Stephens actual argument before the nine Justices of the Texas Supreme Court. The legal issue was whether there were a sufficient number of past similar crimes to make this crime foreseeable, triggering a duty to protect Mr. Gutierrez.
