Background
Shoppers inside a store were struck and fatally wounded by a run-away vehicle. The vehicle had transversed the parking lot and a pedestrian plaza which was outside of the store and crashed through the storefront at a speed between 30 to 40 miles per hour.
Services Provided
Rimkus was asked to opine on the suitability of the design and construction of the parking lot layout in conjunction with the building footprint.
In the course of our work, we performed a site inspection and reviewed design drawings, appropriate building codes, a local police report, and various depositions of the site designer, building owner and witnesses. Based on our investigation, we concluded the following:
- Rimkus determined that the design and construction of the parking lot and the pedestrian plaza outside the mall was reasonable and safe for its intended purposes.
- Rimkus determined that the design and construction of the parking lot and the pedestrian plaza outside the mall and were in compliance with the industry standard of care for such facilities.
- Rimkus also concluded that reasonable alternative parking lot and/or pedestrian plaza designs would not have necessarily prevented the Incident.