Restaurant seeks dismissal from liability in 2020 shooting
Attorneys for Javier’s, an upscale Mexican restaurant located at the Westfield Century City mall, have filed court papers seeking dismissal of their client in a lawsuit brought forth by three young children of Ryan Deshane Givens Jr., who was fatally shot at the mall in 2020.
Givens’ death occurred due to a confrontation with Brandon Hinton, who was arrested and later acquitted during a criminal trial. The suit names Javier’s, the mall, and Hinton as defendants.
In their court filing on Monday with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark Young, Javier’s lawyers argued that the restaurant had nothing to do with the fatal confrontation between Givens and Hinton.
According to the restaurant’s attorneys’ court papers, Hinton and Givens were present earlier in the evening when a fight broke out between Hinton’s girlfriend and another woman at Javier’s. Later on, Hinton was chased outside another restaurant where he was beaten and kicked on the ground before arming himself with a 9mm pistol. When Givens drove by and nearly ran over one of Hinton’s feet on Santa Monica Boulevard, prompting Hinton to kick at Givens’ car and curse at him. This led to multiple shots being fired by Hinton after Givens began running towards him while screaming “I’m going to kill you.”
The lawsuit alleges that Javier’s had an obligation to provide protection for Givens after matters escalated outside the restaurant but the defense disagrees stating that there is no causal connection between the incident inside Javier’s and the separate shooting incident.
A hearing on this matter will take place on September 12.
