Jury Finds Denny’s Liable for $46M in Restaurant Shooting
A Seattle jury has awarded more than $46 million to a Bible college graduate who was left a paraplegic after a shooting at a Denny’s in Kent, Wash., that had attracted rowdy bar customers with a history of fighting.
Denny’s will not appeal as part of an agreement with plaintiff Steve Tolenoa, according to his lawyer, Ron Perey of Seattle. Two other plaintiffs—a woman who was shot in the knee and her husband—will receive smaller amounts. The Kent Reporter has the story.
Perey had argued Denny’s didn’t do enough to protect its customers, given its knowledge of violence at the restaurant almost every weekend, according to the Kent Reporter. Tolenoa was shot in January 2007 after a fight broke out at the Denny’s and the loser returned with a Glock semiautomatic handgun, spraying 11 bullets into the restaurant. Tolenoa didn’t know the shooter, who was sentenced to 62 years in prison, and was not involved in the fight.
Perey told KomoNews.com that police were called to the restaurant 1,100 times in the two years before the shooting. “They have the duty to protect from harm from foreseeable criminal conduct,” Perey told KomoNews.com. “That’s what this case was all about.”
