A Belleville food pantry denies liability and seeks to dismiss a volunteer’s lawsuit alleging he was assaulted by a homeless man with known violent propensities.
Michael and Sherri Foppe filed the complaint March 30 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Community Interfaith Food Pantry Inc. and Brink’s Inc.
The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, adding Monitronics International Inc. as a defendant.
According to the complaint, Michael Foppe was volunteering at the Community Interfaith Food Pantry located at 1218 W. Main Street in Belleville on July 19, 2018. The pantry supplied food and supplies to residents, including people with low incomes, mental disabilities, and homeless people within the St. Clair County area.
Foppe claims the defendant had prior instances of verbal and physical assaults on the premises and knew from those prior instances that certain patrons had violent propensities. Foppe alleges the pantry knew Cortez Wilson, a homeless man who was a patron at the food pantry, had violent and aggressive propensities. Despite allegedly having that knowledge, Foppe claims the defendant failed to enhance security or properly train its volunteers on how to handle violent people on the premises.
As a result, Foppe claims he was violently struck in the face with a blunt object by Wilson, who was seeking services from the pantry. Foppe claims he suffered serious and life-changing injuries, including fractures to the face and orbital bones, loss of vision in his eye and other injuries to his face, mouth and teeth.
Community Interfaith Food Pantry is accused of failing to provide adequate security, failing to provide security guards, failing to properly monitor crime at or near the pantry, failing to train its volunteers in handling violent patrons, failing to ban Wilson from the premises, failing to provide adequate video surveillance, and failing to provide proper policies and procedures for banning violent patrons.
Foppe claims Brinks provided security services to the pantry on the date of the incident. As part of the services, Brinks installed, monitored and serviced a security alarm inside the premises, which was supposed to contact the Belleville Police Department immediately upon an alarm event. Foppe alleges Brinks owed a duty to contact the local police authorities in a timely fashion.
However, Foppe alleges Brinks failed to call or dispatch the police in a timely fashion, cancelled an outbound call to the police, failed to act in a diligent manner, and failed to otherwise comply with the terms of the contract with the pantry.
The Foppes seek a judgment in their favor in excess of $50,000, plus costs.
Community Interfaith Food Pantry filed a motion to dismiss the first amended complaint on June 2 through attorney David Berwin of Evans & Dixon LLC in St. Louis. The defendant argues that under Illinois law, “a possessor of land owes no duty to protect lawful entrants from criminal attacks by third parties.”
An exception exists when there is a special relationship between the possessor and the entrant, but the defendant argues that the plaintiff fails to show that a special relationship exists.
Monitronics answered the complaint on June 12 through attorney Stephen Moore of Galloway Johnson Tompkins Burr & Smith PC in St. Louis.
In its affirmative defenses, the defendant argues that Foppe’s damages were caused by his own comparative fault and by a person whom the defendant had no control or legal responsibility over.
The plaintiffs responded to Monitronics answer on June 16 through attorney Rebecca Van Court of DeFranco & Bradley PC in Fairview Heights. They deny each and every allegation.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 20-L-261