Alexis Gale was shot and killed while working in the rented business offices of her employer, Mon Ami International. Gale’s husband sued the property owners and managers of the office complex where Mon Ami’s rented offices were located, claiming the landlord had breached a duty to provide adequate security at the complex. The lease provided that the landlord would provide security services in the common areas of the complex and that the lessee was Chapter 51 Leases 1229 given exclusive control of the portion of the premises rented as office space.

Gale was shot and killed by a coworker, not in a common area over which the landlord had control but in the Mon Ami office space over which the lessee had exclusive control and in which the landlord had no duty to provide security.

Gale’s husband also alleged that the landlord knew an attack was about to take place because of some strange happenings that had taken place earlier that day.

That morning, a maintenance worker noticed a man opening the back door of the Mon Ami office from the inside. This man appeared to be acting strangely:

He took a handkerchief out of his suit pocket and picked up a briefcase sitting outside the door. He was wearing what the worker described as a costume-type wig on his head but looked vaguely familiar. Later that day, Gale’s body was discovered. The maintenance worker reported what he had seen to the landlord and to the police. It was eventually determined that this was the coworker who had shot Gale, and it was also determined that the landlord knew of numerous arguments between Gale and the coworker. Gale’s spouse alleged that the landlord had a duty to prevent the shooting. Did such a duty exist? [Gale v North Meadow Associates, 466 SE2d 648 (Ga App)]

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