It has long been established that merchants (including bar/restaurant owners in this case) have a duty to use reasonable care to protect their identifiable invitees from the foreseeable criminal acts of third parties. The assumption that patrons will obey the criminal law is eliminated when a reasonable person would recognize a risk of imminent harm to an identifiable invitee. Once that duty is triggered, the merchant must reasonably expedite the involvement of the police.
What is less clear is whether that duty extends outside the merchant’s walls and when a reasonable person would recognize a risk of imminent harm to an identifiable invitee. The Michigan Court of Appeals in Tyson v. Dawkins Docket No. 346595 recently answered this question. In this case, one patron of a bar physically and verbally assaulted another patron on the sidewalk outside the bar. The bar staff was informed and took no action to remove the assaulter or contact the police. The victim was later assaulted again by the same patron.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the area just outside the bar was considered an extension of the bar due to patrons regularly stepping out there to smoke, look at motorcycles, etc.
As for the risk of imminent harm, the Court found that after the victim was assaulted once and the bar staff was informed, a reasonable person would recognize a risk of imminent harm. These facts established a duty by the defendant bar to expedite the involvement of the police. This was not done, and the victim was assaulted a second time as a result.
The key takeaway from this case is that generally no duty to prevent a crime of a third party exists, but if an act occurs that triggers a reasonable person to recognize a risk of imminent harm, a duty to reasonably expedite the police will arise. In addition, that duty does not just apply within the four walls of the business but can extend beyond if the outside area is used and considered effectively part of the business’s premises.
The full text of the opinion can be found at: https://law.justia.com/cases/michigan/court-of-appeals-unpublished/2021/346595.html
