Mason v. Royal Dequindre, Inc.

Kelly,

J. We granted leave to appeal in these consolidated premises liability cases to determine whether merchants have a common-law duty to protect their patrons from the criminal acts of third parties. We affirm the Court of Appeals decisions in both cases. Our holding is that merchants can be liable in tort for failing to take reasonable measures to protect their invitees from harm caused by the criminal acts of third parties. The harm must be foreseeable to an identifiable invitee and preventable by the exercise of reasonable care.

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MASON v ROYAL DEQUINDRE, INC

Dan Kanka, Jim Fitzgerald,…