Trammell Crow Central Texas Ltd. v. Maria Gutierrez, et al.
The Texas Supreme Court overruled Trammell Crow's issues on appeal.
Joe Stephens argues a case before the Texas Supreme Court
Trammell Crow Central Texas Ltd. v. Maria Gutierrez, et al.
from Bexar County and the Fourth District Court of Appeals, San Antonio
For petitioner: W. Wendell Hall, San Antonio
For respondents: Joe Stephens, Katy
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issues are (1) whether past crimes were similar enough to make a crime foreseeable, triggering a duty to protect an invitee and (2) whether legally sufficient evidence supported the conclusion that breach of the duty proximately caused the invitee’s injuries. In this case Gutierrez’s husband was killed in an attack in shopping center parking lot outside a theater he and his wife had left. Trammel Crow’s trial evidence suggested Gutierrez may have been targeted for a “hit” because, after his arrest for burglary, Gutierrez turned information on other suspects and told police he feared a drive-by shooting as retaliation. But Gutierrez’s wife presented evidence that he was not afraid of an attack; that his wallet was stolen in the attack and his gold bracelet was broken (indicating a robbery by strangers); and that 10 robberies occurred on the premises among 220 crimes reported there in the previous two years. Her evidence indicated five of those robberies involved deadly weapons. Jurors awarded her a multi-million dollar verdict. The court of appeals affirmed, finding jurors could have determined the attack was a robbery by strangers, not a targeted killing, and was foreseeable.
Accordingly, the court overruled Trammell Crow's issues on appeal and affirm the trial court's judgment
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