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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments next week in a negligence lawsuit filed against Simon Property Group and Universal Protection Service over the 2022 Greenwood Park Mall shooting.
The lawsuit was filed by Kaya Stewart and her family. Stewart was injured in the random shooting by gunman Jonathan Sapirman, whose rampage resulted in three deaths. Sapirman was shot and killed by a bystander in the mall.
The lawsuit says Stewart suffered severe, life-threatening injuries from being shot.
Simon is appealing the Marion Superior Court’s denial of the company’s motion to dismiss the case.
Simon argues that the circumstances do not amount to a negligence claim against Simon or Universal Protection because mass shootings at a business are not normally to be expected.
Universal Protection, a limited liability company that does business as Allied Universal Security Services, argues that the shooting was not foreseeable as a matter of law.
Chief Judge Robert Altice and Judges Elaine Brown and Elizabeth Tavitas will hear the case on April 23 in the Court of Appeals Courtroom at the Statehouse.
The case is Simon Property Group, et al. v. P.R. Stewart, et al., 24A-CT-1700.
Two other lawsuits filed against the Simon Property Group and its security services over the Greenwood Park Mall shooting are on hold while the Stewart case is being appealed.
The lawsuits were filed in Marion Superior Court on behalf of Rosa Gomez, who survived the shooting, and the families of Victor Gomez, Pedro Pineda and Rosa Pineda, all of whom were killed in the mall’s food court on July 17, 2022.
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“injured in the random shooting”
Everybody know that when you have more guns than people, the result is not going to be random. Who gets shot is random, but the fact that a shooting happened is pretty predictable.
If the plaintiff is successful, I can predict that someday we will have metal detectors at all of the mall entrances.
I have great empathy for the victims of the shooting at the mall but do not think the Mall is at fault for this. They are most likely going after the Mall ownership as they have deep pockets, but when you have nutjobs walking around with evil intent, how can any public space be held liable for such things? The best thing that came out of that tragedy was the valor and skills of the young man who was armed and trained, and who heroically saved many others from being murdered.