Thanks for submitting your question. I hope that the victim of your question was not seriously inured. I have to let you know upfront that that I am a Texas attorney, and the guidance I can give you is based upon general principals of law with a Texas specific twist. I would encourage you to contact a local personal Injury attorney to understand how the law in your area views this particular situation.
Generally, a club owner is not criminally or civilly liable for criminal activity that harms guests on their property. This would include acts such as a shooting. However, as with most things in the law, there are exceptions. When a club over who is in charge of the security and safety of their parking lot, they have a duty to use ordinary care to protect patrons from criminal acts of third parties if they have reason to know there is a risk of harm to their patrons.
The key to whether or not the club owner has any liability in this situation turns on forseeability of a criminal activity, or whether or not the club owner had reason to believe there was a risk of danger to the patrons. Courts have used evidence of previous violent crimes at or near a club in order to show the club had knowledge of danger. If there is a history of crime in the area, the security a club provides must be reasonable in light of the dangers that are known.
If the club you speak of has a history of violent crimes that have recently taken place nearby, and they failed to provide adequate security to address the danger, courts may find the crime was foreseeable, and the security efforts unreasonable, and hold them responsible for damages to the patrons.
Justin B. Demerath
Austin Personal Injury Lawyer
O'Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath
Attorneys and Counselors at Law
-- Justin Demerath
