Veronica Viera v. Little Ceasars Enterprises, Inc., DBA Little Ceasars Pizza, AKA Little Ceasar's, Inc.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 15, 2011
Docket01-10-00863-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Veronica Viera v. Little Ceasars Enterprises, Inc., DBA Little Ceasars Pizza, AKA Little Ceasar's, Inc. (Veronica Viera v. Little Ceasars Enterprises, Inc., DBA Little Ceasars Pizza, AKA Little Ceasar's, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Veronica Viera v. Little Ceasars Enterprises, Inc., DBA Little Ceasars Pizza, AKA Little Ceasar's, Inc., (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Opinion issued December 15, 2011.

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas

————————————

NO. 01-10-00863-CV

———————————

Veronica Viera and maria estrada, Appellants

V.

Little Caesar Enterprises, INC., D/B/A Little Caesar’s Pizza, Appellee

On Appeal from the 164th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Case No. 0855128

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In this premises liability case, Veronica Viera and Maria Estrada appeal a summary judgment granted in favor of Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc., d/b/a Little Caesar’s Pizza. Viera and Estrada were in a Little Caesar’s restaurant when an armed robbery was committed.  One of the robbers shot Viera after she and Estrada exited through the back door of the pizzeria, and Estrada witnessed the shooting. They sued for negligent security. Little Caesar’s moved for traditional and no-evidence summary judgment on several grounds, including that the armed robbery that injured Viera and Estrada was not sufficiently foreseeable to impose a legal duty on Little Caesar to protect them against third-party criminal acts. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Little Caesar’s. Viera and Estrada appealed. We hold that the risk of the armed robbery that resulted in Viera and Estrada’s injuries was not sufficiently foreseeable to impose a duty on Little Caesar’s. We affirm the trial court’s judgment on this ground and do not reach the other grounds upon which the trial court may have granted summary judgment.[1]

Factual Background

On a summer evening in 2008, two sisters, Veronica Viera and Maria Estrada, entered the Little Caesar’s pizzeria in their neighborhood to pick up pizza they had ordered. Two masked men entered the pizzeria through the rear door, brandished guns, threatened the patrons, and told everyone to get on the floor. According to Estrada, the robbers were wearing Little Caesar’s uniforms. The incident report indicates that the robbers took two shots at the store manager, missing him both times, and the manager gave them the money in the cash register. The gunmen then ordered everyone to the back of the restaurant.

According to witnesses, the gunmen instructed the customers to “run.” A number of customers, including the two sisters, fled through the open back door and down a fenced alley behind the pizzeria. Estrada exited the building ahead of Viera. When she looked back, she saw one of the gunmen come out the back door of the building and take three shots in the direction of Viera. Viera sustained two gunshot wounds as she fled.

The police investigation determined that the incident “appeared to have been an inside job” conducted with the assistance of a restaurant employee, who appeared to have opened, or left open, the back door through which the robbers entered the building.

Procedural Background

A few months after the incident, Viera and Estrada sued Little Caesar’s. Viera and Estrada claimed that Little Caesar’s was negligent in failing to provide adequate security and that it was foreseeable that an “assault” might occur on the premises.  In addition to Viera’s personal injuries suffered from the shooting, they sought mental anguish damages, including damages for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Little Caesar’s moved for traditional and no-evidence summary judgment on the grounds that: (1) the shooting occurred outside of the Little Caesar’s, on property neither owned nor operated by Little Caesar’s; (2) there was no evidence that Little Caesar’s owed a duty to Viera and Estrada; (3) there was no evidence of causation; (4) there was no evidence that the armed robbery was foreseeable; and (5) in the alternative, Viera and Estrada’s claims were barred by the statute of limitations. Viera and Estrada filed a response, to which they attached affidavits from Viera, Estrada, Dr. Edward Charlesworth, and Thomas Swanson, a security consultant.[2] The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Little Caesar’s without specifying the basis for its judgment.

Standard of Review

We review a trial court’s summary judgment de novo. Travelers Ins. Co. v. Joachim, 315 S.W.3d 860, 862 (Tex. 2010). If a trial court grants summary judgment without specifying the grounds for granting the motion, we must uphold the trial court’s judgment if any of the grounds are meritorious. Beverick v. Koch Power, Inc., 186 S.W.3d 145, 148 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, pet. denied). The motion must state the specific grounds relied upon for summary judgment. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 166a(c), (i); Timpte Indus., Inc. v. Gish, 286 S.W.3d 306, 310 (Tex. 2009). When reviewing a summary judgment motion, we must (1) take as true all evidence favorable to the nonmovant and (2) indulge every reasonable inference and resolve any doubts in the nonmovant’s favor. Valence Operating Co. v. Dorsett, 164 S.W.3d 656, 661 (Tex. 2005); Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Knott, 128 S.W.3d 211, 215 (Tex. 2003). 

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Veronica Viera v. Little Ceasars Enterprises, Inc., DBA Little Ceasars Pizza, AKA Little Ceasar's, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/veronica-viera-v-little-ceasars-enterprises-inc-db-texapp-2011.