Motion In Limine Ruling Reviewed For Abuse Of Discretion.

In 2006, two stores in a center were robbed eight days apart. A jewelry store owner in the same center expressed concern to the center’s management about the lack of security. Instead of investing in security, the center’s owners and managers requested the local police department to step up security. Seven months after the first two robberies, the jewelry store owner had his 14-year-old daughter at work with him, and shortly after opening the store, three men entered. They pistol whipped the owner and held a gun to his daughter’s head and destroyed counters and stole merchandise.  After the jewelry store robbery, the center’s owners hired a security service to provide unarmed patrol guards for the center’s common areas. The jewelry store owner brought an action for negligence against the center’s owners. The trial court made an evidentiary ruling under Evidence Code section 1151, in a motion in limine. That section states that evidence of subsequent remedial measures is inadmissible to negligence or culpable conduct in connection with an event. A jury found in the center’s favor and the jewelry store owner appealed. Finding no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s evidentiary ruling, the appellate court affirmed. (McIntyre v. The Colonies-Pacific, LLC (Cal. App. Fourth Dist., Div. 1; July 31, 2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 664, [175 Cal.Rptr.3d 440].)