HOUSTON -- An 87-year-old grandmother is suing a Houston grocery store, saying it’s partly to blame for the purse-snatching that left her battered and bruised.
Mary, who didn’t want her last name used, was leaving the Randalls on West Bellfort when a man suddenly grabbed her.
"Had the keys to the car in this hand, I had the purse in this hand and the next thing I knew, I was down on the ground," Mary said. "Because he wanted to make sure I was down, and I wouldn’t be able to defend myself."
The man took her purse and left her with a broken arm, banged-up knee and black eye.
She was treated at a Houston hospital.
"It left quite a scare in me," she said.
A few hours later, Ray Anthony Lewis Jr. and Tina Marie Pitre were arrested and charged with aggravated robbery in connection with the attack on Mary.
Mary’s lawsuit claims Randalls knew about a crime problem in the area and did not provide adequate security.
"We did an investigation and 505 major crimes occurred at that address in the 18 months prior," said Bradford Oesch, Mary’s attorney. "And the people that shop at these stores are invitees. They are invited on to these premises by the landlord so that the landlord makes money. It’s all about the profit and these stores are making lots of money."
11 News made calls to Randalls corporate offices and have yet to hear back from them.
In the last few months, dozens of crime victims have filed liability suits against business properties in Houston. They include an apartment complex on Kempwood where a sexual assault allegedly occurred, a check-cashing business on Bellaire where a woman was seriously wounded, a club on Jensen where a woman was beaten, a truck stop on McCarty where a customer was robbed and a club on Winkler where a man says his son was murdered in the parking lot.
11 News legal expert Gerald Treece said while these lawsuits are popular, they’re not as successful as they were in the 1970s and 80s.
Property owners fought for changes in the law because of the high price of property liability insurance.
"The reason premises liability cases aren’t considered as valuable as they used to be is because the jury can say while the property owner was partially responsible, the real culprit was the criminal," Treece said.
Mary believes businesses should do more to protect their patrons, and she’s hoping a jury will see it her way.
