Negligent Security Suits Against Walmart Brewing After El Paso Mass Shooting
Store security could emerge as a central issue. “If you are going to operate as a store, with that many people in it, you need to be doing what’s reasonable to protect those people,” said Rob Ammons, founding partner of The Ammons Law Firm in Houston.
August 12, 2019 at 11:47 AM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Texas Lawyer
Survivors and victims’ families of the mass shooting at Walmart in El Paso are calling attorneys for legal representation, even while experts say it’s still too soon to know who might face liability.
Since the Aug. 3 Texas attack, police have arrested an armed man who caused chaos at a Walmart store in Springfield, Missouri, and another who allegedly threatened Walmart customers with a pellet gun in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Now, plaintiffs lawyers appear to be in the mix.
Until the investigation in the El Paso shooting is complete and all of the facts come out, there’s no way to tell who’s exposed to risk, or for what conduct, according to three attorneys with experience with mass shooting cases.
But one thing’s almost certain, industry experts say: Litigation often follows mass shootings in the United States.
|‘Zero armed guards’
The shooter in El Paso entered a Walmart store on Aug. 3 with an AK-47 assault rifle and multiple magazines, and killed 22 people and injured at least a dozen others, according to the Associated Press. Because the shooter told law enforcement he was targeting Mexicans, prosecutors are considering filing hate-crime charges against the suspect, who’s imprisoned without bond on a capital murder charge.
Houston attorney Rob Ammons, who’s representing shooting victims in lawsuits for nearly three decades, said he’s already received calls from three different law firms that were seeking his advice for El Paso cases.
“It’s my understanding the Walmart superstore at this location had zero armed guards employed there for security,” said Ammons, founding partner of The Ammons Law Firm in Houston. “Walmart has other stores in other locations where they have armed security. Why not here?”
He said that mass shootings have become so common in the United States that he feels they are foreseeable in any location that attracts mass gatherings of people.
“If you are going to operate as a store, with that many people in it, you need to be doing what’s reasonable to protect those people,” he explained.
No one from Walmart’s corporate communications team returned an email seeking comment.
However, generally speaking, premises liability claims over negligent security are not the most common case type after a mass shooting. It’s more common to see litigation against gun sellers for irresponsibly or illegally selling weapons to those mass shooters who shouldn’t have been able to buy a gun.
For this reason, the bulk of lawyers’ investigations into the El Paso shooting will probably focus on the facts surrounding how the shooter obtained his guns, said Jamal Alsaffar, partner in Whitehurst, Harkness, Brees, Cheng, Alsaffar, Higginbotham, & Jacob in Austin.
“How did someone like this so easily get such a dangerous weapon so quickly?” asked Alsaffar, who is currently representing victims of the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Those plaintiffs allege in multiple lawsuits that the shooter had a criminal history preventing him from legally purchasing firearms, and that legal failures by the U.S. government and a gun retailer allowed him to buy guns anyways.
Lawsuits against gun sellers are the most common type for Erin Davis, senior counsel for trial and appellate litigation at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that uses education, litigation and legislation to try to end America’s gun violence epidemic.
Gun sellers must follow a multitude of federal and state regulations about selling firearms, Davis explained. When a gun dealer fails to comply with regulations and sells a gun in violation of the law, that retailer faces liability.
“Brady has had great success bringing cases against irresponsible gun companies that negligently and illegally sell guns,” said Davis. “We’ve done cases like this all over the country.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllHow Kirkland Litigators and Restructuring Lawyers Partner on Bankruptcy Work
Litigators of the Week: Hitting Walmart With a $100M Verdict in Its Own Backyard
Litigator of the Week: Standing Strong for Under Armour's Trademarks Without Going Overboard Against Upstart Armorina
How a Luxury Designer Made the Case 'Adidas Does Not Own Stripes'
Trending Stories
- 1Call for Nominations: Elite Trial Lawyers 2025
- 2Senate Judiciary Dems Release Report on Supreme Court Ethics
- 3Senate Confirms Last 2 of Biden's California Judicial Nominees
- 4Morrison & Foerster Doles Out Year-End and Special Bonuses, Raises Base Compensation for Associates
- 5Tom Girardi to Surrender to Federal Authorities on Jan. 7
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250