A judge denied a motion Wednesday by Rite Aid to dismiss part of an actor’s lawsuit alleging the drug-store chain was negligent in its security staffing in a parking lot of the West Hollywood location, where the plaintiff was beaten by two men last Thanksgiving.
Finalizing a tentative ruling he issued Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Murphy said Corey Sligh’s allegation of negligent hiring, retention and supervision against the drug store chain will remain part of the complaint for now.
Sligh’s lawyers maintained that a security guard present during the incident, Armand Gascon, was unfit for his position. In their court papers, they contend he “merely stood by and watched as the attack on the plaintiff took place.”
Rite Aid attorney Sadaf Bathaee maintained that Sligh’s lawyers acknowledged in their court papers that Gascon was hired by Spear Management Co. and not Rite Aid. She said they gave no details in the suit showing Rite Aid knew Gascon may have been incompetent.
However, Murphy said both Spear and Rite Aid may have breached their duty to protect customers like Sligh because only one security guard was present. He said that if Rite Aid had evidence to the contrary its lawyers could file another dismissal motion in the future.
Sligh, 28, has played a bartender and waiter on CBS’ “The Young and the Restless.” In addition to Rite Aid, his lawsuit also names Gascon and the actor’s two alleged assailants, Dusan Lilic and Nikola Ilic. The suit, which alleges assault and battery by both men, maintains that the two were in a car that was being driven recklessly in the parking lot of the Rite Aid last Nov. 27 when Sligh told Lilic, the driver, to slow down.
Sligh and his girlfriend were on their way to deliver a Thanksgiving dinner to a friend. The suit alleges Lilic “gunned the car” toward him, hitting the actor’s leg and knocking him to the ground.
Dazed, Sligh got up and saw the two men running toward him, the suit states. Both punched and kicked him and Lilic “stomped with his full body weight” on Sligh’s arm, shattering the bones and snapping his arm, the suit alleges.
Both men fled, but were arrested soon thereafter and identified by Sligh and other witnesses, the suit states.
Sligh still cannot use his right arm, which remains “weak and disfigured,” the suit states. He has been unable to accept acting roles offered to him, according to the lawsuit. Lilic, 27, and Ilic, 24, were charged last December with one count each of battery with serious bodily injury and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury. Lilic was additionally charged with one count each of assault with a deadly weapon, driving under the influence causing injury and driving with a 0.08 percent blood alcohol content causing injury.
— City News Service