Judge Throws Out Suit Over Shooting Rampage

A judge threw out a lawsuit against the North Valley Jewish Community Center on Tuesday, ruling there was no proof that the center had a duty to protect a 5-year-old camper from the sort of threat posed by Buford Furrow, who shot five people there in 1999.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William A. MacLaughlin said the family of Benjamin Kadish, the most seriously injured of the five, may amend its lawsuit within 20 days to address legal weaknesses in the case.

“I don’t find what has been alleged so far is enough” to warrant a case, MacLaughlin said.

He predicted that the Kadishes, of West Hills, will have difficulty proving that the Granada Hills center breached an implied contract with the parents to provide a safe environment for their children, and proving that the parents suffered serious emotional distress.

Attorney Scott A. Edelman, who represents the Jewish Community Center, said state law clearly protects the center from such claims. He said he believes the family will be unable to make a case for monetary damages, and he plans to ask a judge to dismiss the amended complaint, if it is filed.

“A landlord does not have a duty to prevent third-party violence” unless there have been similar prior acts of violence on the same premises, Edelman said.

Despite the Kadishes’ allegations, Edelman said Furrow’s attack was “not foreseeable.”

“There has never been a threat like this” at the center, he said.

Benjamin and his brother Joshua, then 9, were attending summer camp on Aug. 10 when Furrow, an anti-Semite and white supremacist, walked into the lobby and fired 20 to 30 shots from an assault rifle. Benjamin was shot through the stomach and leg and spent six weeks in a hospital.

Furrow, who later that day shot and killed postal carrier Joseph Ileto, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The Kadishes’ lawyer, Joseph M. Lovretovich, said he will ask an appellate court, if necessary, to reconsider the center’s legal obligation to prevent violent crimes by third parties on its premises.

He said other Jewish institutions have better security than the campus where the shooting occurred.