Attorneys for Pair Stabbed at Downtown Target Granted Info on Other Cases
A boy and a woman who were stabbed by a man at the Target store in downtown Los Angeles won a court order Wednesday directing the retail chain to produce software evidence regarding 20 similar incidents at other Target stores.
The stabbings occurred Nov. 15, 2022, at the FIGat7th shopping center shortly after 6:20 p.m. The victims were later identified as Brayden Medina Molina, then 9 years old, and flight attendant Joo Hye Song, then 24.
Both sued Target Corp. and other entities in March 2023 and their suits have been consolidated. Target is the only remaining defendant in the case because the plaintiffs settled before trial with the other parties they sued.
During Wednesday's hearing, Judge Anne Hwang said the plaintiffs' attorneys are entitled to information from Target's TruCase software program given that defense attorneys do not contend that producing the data would be "burdensome or harassing."
Target lawyers maintained the information had already been turned over to the plaintiffs in an Excel sheet.
In their court papers urging they be given access to the TruCase reports, the Molina-Song attorneys maintained it was necessary to determine how many other incidents involving store knives had occurred at other Target stores and whether it was reasonable for Target to continue leaving the knives at their stores unsecured and accessible to patrons.
The plaintiffs' lawyers further stated they had requested an inspection of TruCase performed by both sides' forensic experts, but that Target refused.
"Unfortunately, due to (Target's) previous refusal to provide discovery and (its) gamesmanship, (the plaintiffs' attorneys) believe an inspection is the only way to truly obtain all previous knife incidents," the plaintiffs' lawyers further argued.
The man who stabbed the plaintiffs was shot and killed by a security guard. In their previous court papers, Target attorneys denied any liability on the retail giant's part and urged that judgment be entered in their client's favor, but the motion was denied.
No courtroom has been chosen for the trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 31.
