Court of Appeals affirms PWRFL’s jury verdict for victims shot by gun-carrying minor allowed to enter Bellevue 21-and-over nightclub.

30-year-old Deshawn Milliken and his 21-year-old sister, Destiny Milliken, were shot while inside Bellevue Square's Munchbar nightclub. Mr. Milliken was killed and his younger sister, who was grazed with a bullet, watched him die. The nightclub was overcrowded and understaffed. The director of operations was in prison on the night of the shooting and the owner was in Paris; a young, inexperienced nightlife manager was left at the helm of one of the Northwest's largest nightclubs. Management and security failed to notice when an underage patron with a firearm walked through the front doors, despite their policy of patting everyone down and checking identification.

No economic loss claim was made as Mr. Milliken was unemployed at the time of death; damages were sought for his young daughter's loss of her father, for his pre-death pain and suffering, and for damages suffered by his sister including watching her brother die. The defendants conceded negligence for permitting the shooter to enter the nightclub, but disputed that their negligence was a cause of the shooting. They also argued that the Millikens were at fault because they had started the fight that had precipitated the shooting and because they had allegedly been looking for the shooter to settle a score from a burglary 20 months earlier. Because the Munchbar alleged comparative negligence, the jury was shown evidence of prior incidents that occurred at the Munchbar, and heard extensive testimony regarding their lax security protocol and efforts by police and the landlord to warn Munchbar. On the other hand, the jury also heard extensive evidence that Destiny Milliken had been upset with the shooter, knew that he carried a gun on at least one other occasion, and that he was dangerous.

PWRFL brought a lawsuit against the owners of the nightclub. The case was tried to a Seattle jury, who awarded a total of $3,165,000 to the plaintiffs.

Following the trial, the defendant nightclub filed an appeal challenging the legal right of Mr. Milliken’s minor daughter to benefit from his Estate. PWRFL defended its hard-fought verdict before the Washington Court of Appeals, Division One, and on August 8, 2016, the court affirmed the jury’s verdict, rejecting all of Munchbar’s legal arguments. Nearly four years after Mr. Milliken’s death, the Munchbar nightclub was finally forced to pay for its role in his death.