The brother of a 72-year-old man who was one of 11 people killed during a 2023 mass shooting in Monterey Park can move forward with half of his lawsuit against the dance ballroom where the killings occurred, a judge has ruled.
The tragic events of Jan. 21, 2023, occurred when gunman Huu Can Tran, also 72, entered Star Ballroom Dance Studio and opened fire. Nine others were seriously wounded.
Plaintiff Alan Kao is the brother of the late Yu Lun Kao, who was unmarried and had no children when he was shot along with the others at the now-closed Star Ballroom. The Alhambra Superior Court lawsuit alleges negligence and premises liability against the ballroom. The Tran estate is a co-defendant.
On Friday, Judge Lee S. Arian ruled that Kao can move forward with the suit’s negligence cause of action, but the judge dismissed the premises liability claim.
“Here, the allegations under the premises liability and negligence causes of action are virtually identical, based on the same theory of recovery and similarly add nothing to the complaint by way of distinct fact or legal theory,” Arian wrote.
In the suit brought Jan. 17, Alan Kao contends the ballroom owners and managers “were negligent in failing to take reasonable steps and to employ security measures, including … security guards, video cameras and adequate lighting to protect patrons … from the criminal acts of Huu Can Tran.”
Alan Kao contends the ballroom was aware of prior violence there as well as in the immediate vicinity. In his ruling, the judge said he is not sure the plaintiff will ultimately be able to prove that contention.
“Although the court is skeptical that Plaintiffs will ultimately be able to produce evidence of such prior similar acts at the subject premises, at the (current) stage, when all pleaded facts are assumed to be true, it is sufficient,” the judge wrote.
Alan Kao seeks unspecified compensatory damages from the studio as well as punitive damages from the Tran estate.
After Tran left the Star Ballroom, he went to the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio in Alhambra and attempted to enter before he was stopped by Brandon Tsay, a young man lauded as a lifesaving hero.
The gunman killed himself the next day after he was pulled over by police outside a Torrance strip mall.
The mass shooting was the deadliest in L.A. County history — and occurred on the eve of the Lunar New Year in a community that is majority Asian American and considered the first suburban Chinatown in the nation.
Following the shooting, then-President Joe Biden visited Monterey Park, consoled each of the victims’ families and announced executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence. He also took time during his State of the Union speech on Feb. 7, 2023, to call for increased gun control.