Cheesecake Factory cleared of liability in 2022 Tukwila mall shooting
A federal judge dismissed negligence claims against Cheesecake Factory and a mall security firm after a mother was shot at a Washington state restaurant in 2022.
Federal judge clears Cheesecake Factory and security firm in Westfield Southcenter shooting
A Washington state mother who was struck by a stray bullet while dining with her daughters at a Cheesecake Factory in May 2022 has lost her federal lawsuit against the restaurant and the mall's security contractor, Courthouse News Service reports.
Larisa Sopka and her daughters were eating at the Cheesecake Factory inside Westfield Southcenter Mall in Tukwila when an argument between nearby patrons escalated and a gun was fired. The bullet hit Sopka in her left leg.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein, a Jimmy Carter appointee, ruled on Tuesday that the restaurant chain could not reasonably have anticipated the violence and dismissed the negligence claims against it.
"Rowdy table behavior at The Cheesecake Factory had never in the past led to gun violence of any kind, and it was not reasonable for the staff to have anticipated that gunshots would be fired in the restaurant on the evening of May 31, 2022 in sufficient time to have prevented it or provided any earlier warning than the shout of 'gun' that occurred that night," Rothstein wrote.
Sopka and her daughters filed suit in January 2024, naming the mall and the Cheesecake Factory as defendants and accusing both of failing to protect patrons despite what the plaintiffs described as "rampant crime and violence" on the premises. A later amended complaint added Allied Universal Security Services — the mall's contracted security firm — as a third defendant.
Rothstein dismissed the claims against Allied Universal as well. Under its contract with Westfield Southcenter, Allied Universal was responsible for patrolling common areas of the mall but was specifically instructed not to enter individual tenant spaces unless requested to do so. Because the shooting took place inside the restaurant, the judge found the security company bore no contractual duty to monitor or patrol that space.
"The evidence does not support a finding that Allied had any control over security for the restaurant that would create a duty to protect the plaintiffs in the restaurant from a criminal act, even if it were foreseeable," Rothstein wrote.
The court acknowledged that witnesses had described "unruly and loud behavior" inside the Cheesecake Factory before the shot was fired, but Rothstein determined that fell short of establishing that gunfire was imminent.
"There is no evidence that Allied assumed responsibility for the safety of The Cheesecake Factory customers, there is no evidence that Allied knew or should have known of the specific threat, even though it may have been aware of car thefts or other violent incidents that had occurred at Southcenter Mall in the past, and there is no evidence that Allied failed to respond to a call for assistance," the judge wrote.
The Sopka family had argued the mall had been the site of "scores of crimes, including assaults, shootings, carjackings, robberies, thefts, and instances of domestic violence" in the period leading up to the May 2022 shooting. Their legal team also highlighted a statement from a Cheesecake Factory employee who told a local news outlet that "literally anyone can walk in and shoot a gun. We don't have security or someone guarding the door."
Rothstein found those arguments insufficient to establish liability on the part of any of the defendants. None of the parties responded to a request for comment before publication.
Source: Courthouse News Service