Romero v. Los Angeles Rams

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 15, 2023
DocketB310152
StatusPublished

This text of Romero v. Los Angeles Rams (Romero v. Los Angeles Rams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Romero v. Los Angeles Rams, (Cal. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

Filed 4/27/23; Certified for Publication 5/15/23 (order attached)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

ENRIQUE ROMERO et al., B310152

Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 18STCV00679) v.

LOS ANGELES RAMS et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, David J. Cowan, Judge. Affirmed.

Blair & Ramirez, Oscar Ramirez, Matthew P. Blair and Kirill Lavinski for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester, Robert P. Wargo, Jeffrey M. Lenkov and Steven J. Renick for Defendant and Respondent Los Angeles Rams.

Murchison & Cumming, Gina E. Och; Skane Mills and Heather L. Mills for Defendant and Respondent Contemporary Services Corporation.

_________________________ Appellant Enrique Romero was injured by fellow fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Coliseum) near the end of a Los Angeles Rams football game. Enrique, his wife and two daughters (appellants) brought this action against Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC), the Los Angeles Rams (Rams) and the University of Southern California (USC), alleging causes of action for negligence, premises liability and related ancillary torts. All three defendants obtained summary judgment in their favor. This appeal involves two of the defendants: CSC and the Rams. 1 CSC is an entity hired to provide crowd management services at the Coliseum during certain events, including Rams football games. In granting CSC’s and the Rams’ motions for summary judgment, the trial court assumed that both defendants had a duty to protect Enrique and his family and had failed to take the ameliorative steps proposed by appellants. Nevertheless, the court granted summary judgment on the ground that these failures, as a matter of law, were not the cause of the assault. Appellants appeal, contending the trial court erred in finding they had failed to create triable issues of fact concerning causation. We affirm the judgment.

1 The record in this case reveals that USC filed its motion at the same time as CSC and the Rams, but that motion was denied without prejudice on the ground of defective service. We take judicial notice of the record in case No. B313461, also before this court on appeal; that record shows that USC subsequently refiled its motion, which was granted by a different trial court on a different ground.

2 BACKGROUND For the 2017–2018 season, the Rams played their home games at the Coliseum, pursuant to an agreement with USC. For purposes of the motion for summary judgment, the Rams conceded they had a duty to protect the fans in the Coliseum. Some of the security at the Rams games was provided by off-duty Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers and Apex Security Group, Inc. (APEX) security personnel. Some LAPD officers were hired directly by USC, and others by the Rams. APEX is a subsidiary of CSC, but the record does not show what control, if any, CSC had over the deployment of APEX personnel. CSC’s contract with USC called for CSC to provide crowd management services at the Coliseum, and the Rams were required to use CSC for this purpose. CSC divided its staff into two categories: event staff and security staff. Event staff are not authorized to perform any security functions. Security staff are required to have a security guard card. They perform some security functions such as gate searches. CSC told both its event staff and its security staff not to intervene in any verbal or physical altercations involving fans. Their role was to observe and, if necessary, refer those matters to LAPD and APEX. Kevin Daly, USC’s event manager for Rams’ games, explained USC’s expectations of the various security providers. He testified USC expected LAPD to become involved when someone was breaking the law. In the event of a fight, USC instructed CSC “to not get hurt and to be the best witness they can be to a situation. But we do not ask them to intervene where they might be harmed or suffer injury.” The parties do not discuss APEX’S role in any detail on appeal, but it appears APEX

3 personnel were authorized to intervene in some altercations and to eject fans from the Coliseum. LAPD officers, APEX personnel, and CSC event and security staff were present inside and outside the Coliseum for the January 6, 2018, play-off game which Enrique attended with his wife Karina and his two daughters Alannah and Yasmine. Near the end of the game, Enrique and Yasmine walked from their assigned seats to the section of the Coliseum where family members of the Rams players were seated (Family section). 2 This section was closer to the field, and Yasmine wanted to take photographs of the players and greet them. The only CSC staff assigned to this seating area were two event staff employees, who were essentially ushers. At about this same time, CSC supervisor James Mayhan was informed by a Rams employee that there was “an issue” in the Family section near the Romeros. Mayhan went to the Family section, where another CSC supervisor was already present. Mayhan observed overcrowding in the aisle and asked the Romeros and others to return to their seats. The Romeros did not move out of the aisle and return to their seats. At this point, a verbal altercation developed between Enrique and some of the Rams family members. 3 Mayhan positioned himself between Enrique and the row of family members and explained to Enrique

2 There is contradictory evidence about exactly when Enrique and his daughter went to the Family seating section. We discuss this in more detail in section D.4, post. 3 Mayhan did not describe an ongoing verbal altercation when he arrived, but his testimony did not rule out that a verbal altercation started before he arrived.

4 that he, Mayhan, needed to escort the family members out of the section. Enrique and his daughter began to walk up the aisle. Mayhan moved to allow the family members out of their row, and they began to walk up the aisle as well, with Mayhan behind one or more of the family members. 4 The verbal altercation continued as Enrique and the Rams family members walked up the aisle. At some point, Enrique walked into a row of seats and stood about four to five seats into the row. As the Rams family members walked by Enrique, he waved good-bye to a specific female family member with whom he had been having the verbal altercation. Mayhan heard someone say the word “bitch.” The female family member turned and ran into the row where Enrique was standing and slapped him. Mayhan began scrambling to get between the woman and Enrique and was able to get over a seat and position himself between the two. Mayhan was immediately hit in the back of the head and knocked to the ground for about five to seven seconds. When Mayhan stood up, he saw that Enrique had a gash over his eye. Although there had been crowding in the Family section at the end of previous games, this was the first known fight in that area. Enrique’s gash required stitches and he was advised to have a titanium plate implanted in the area next to his eye socket to prevent further/future damage to his eye. He testified at his deposition that he did have such a plate.

4 According to Enrique, Mayhan was in front of all the family members.

5 Appellants initially brought this claim against the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the State of California, and an individual named Jada Woolfolk, as well as CSC, the Rams and USC. Appellants subsequently dismissed the governmental defendants and Woolfolk.

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Bluebook (online)
Romero v. Los Angeles Rams, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/romero-v-los-angeles-rams-calctapp-2023.