Hudson Valley Mall negligence suit thrown out

ALBANY -- A midlevel New York court Thursday dismissed a lawsuit claiming negligent mall security resulted in the 2006 stabbing death of restaurant manager Sharon Inger.

The five justices concluded that the same Hudson Valley Mall where a gunman opened fire with an assault rifle a year earlier met the threshold of "minimal precautions to protect tenants from foreseeable harm." The Appellate Division, reversing a lower court, dismissed the lawsuit filed by Inger's daughter and estate.

The justices said PCK Development Co. Llc was not obligated to put security cameras at the entrance to the Ground Round and had no duty to police the restaurant's interior. The sole security guard patrolling after hours "saw nothing to alarm her" that night, they noted.

Justices Robert Rose, Bernard Malone Jr., Michael Kavanagh and John Egan Jr. agreed with the decision.

According to police, the 42-year-old Inger was closing the restaurant June 4 when she was killed by co-worker Paul David Despres, 20. Authorities said he returned to the restaurant that night, stabbed Inger 33 times and stole his personnel files and $4,000. He died two weeks later jumping from a moving car.

Attorney Derek Spada said he'll probably appeal the decision, which he called "difficult to comprehend" in light of the hundreds of crimes committed at the mall every year. "It seems like you can shoot people and stab people in the mall and the mall is just not responsible," he said.

Spada had argued that Hudson Valley Mall should have more security, especially following the 2005 shooting, than one guard on duty and should have cameras that one guard could watch from a central location. That would have shown Despres' car as the only one pulling into the parking lot around midnight when all the stores were closed, he said.

Attorney Richard Bentzen, representing the owner, said it was the ruling they had hoped for and expected. He had argued that the mall wasn't responsible for security inside the restaurant or obligated to put cameras outside it.

A lawsuit against the mall and developer Pyramid Companies brought by a victim wounded in the 2005 shooting was dismissed in December by Justice George Ceresia, who concluded it was not foreseeable.

Attorney Steven Melley said he has filed a notice of appeal in that case. His client Thomas Haire has had about 20 surgeries on his legs since the shooting on Feb. 13, 2005.

Bentzen declined to comment on that lawsuit.