Posted on 04/04/2012 8:47:27 AM PDT by marktwain
Owners of a South Side gun range lost another battle in a legal war with neighboring Mission Del Lago golf course Tuesday when a judge cleared the way for course operator Municipal Golf Association-SA to continue its effort to shut down part of the range.
And as A Place to Shoot gun range and the MGA-SA wrangle over an injunction that seeks to cease rifle fire at the Pleasanton Road business, the golfer whose gunshot wound to the chest prompted the allegations of unsafe conditions has stepped into the fray by suing both parties.
Justo Flores, 31, alleges that the owners of A Place to Shoot, the MGA-SA, employees at Mission Del Lago golf course and the City of San Antonio are all at fault for the incident March 4, when he was struck by a stray bullet while playing the course's 12th hole, according to court documents.
On March 14, two days after two golf course employees claimed to hear a rifle shot and feel a bullet whiz by, the MGA-SA filed a request for an injunction along with an application for a temporary restraining order to close the rifle section of the range.
It is the only section of A Place to Shoot that points in the golf course's direction. A district judge granted the order that same day.
With all sides placing blame, it has not been determined where the stray bullet originated.
Police Chief William McManus has said an in-depth investigation could not determine the bullet's origin and said there was no way to tell if it came from the range. Mitchell Lake separates the properties, and the golf course is also abutted to the south by wooded property known for hunting.
William Allan, Flores' attorney, said they expected to prove the bullet came from the gun range by also “pointing out to the public how grossly negligent both parties are.”
Attorneys for A Place to Shoot didn't return calls seeking comment about the lawsuit or the most recent development on the injunction.
Lawyers for the shooting range had argued last week that the golf association didn't have the jurisdiction to sue. They cited a state statute that forbids cities or counties from regulating shooting ranges established before Sept. 1, 2011, and that prevents local governments from suing ranges without the Legislature's permission.
That restriction should apply to the golf association, a public/private partnership created by the City of San Antonio to manage its municipal golf courses, the attorneys said.
District Court Judge Renée McElhaney disagreed and Tuesday denied the plea to have the case thrown out. The next step is a hearing to determine if the golf association can get a temporary injunction, a step beyond the temporary restraining order.
Golf association CEO and President Jim Roschek said in a news release Tuesday that for now, “Mission del Lago is open and we believe our employees and patrons are safe from A Place to Shoot's rifle shots.”
Allan said the fact the MGA-SA is fighting so hard to keep the rifle section closed proves it believes the shots came from there even though it has said the origin couldn't be known.
The golf association is guilty of gross negligence, court documents argue, alleging the golf operators knew about previous stray bullet complaints and lied to Flores after he was shot, telling him they did not know of any concerns before March 4.
Representatives of the golf course offered “a few rounds of golf to make everything go away,” the documents claim.
Flores is seeking up to $750,000 in damages.
mmondo@express-news.net
from Decal:
Go to the range’s website to read their side of this - it won’t make pleasant reading for pro-2A types, but nobody who’s lived in SA since Chairman Julian got elected mayor will be much surprised (”Rifle Range Legal Action” under the Home link).
Um... No. I smell a scam.
Prove the bullet came from that range, or STFU.
Other way around. Mission was built in 1989. APTS was there for almost a decade before...
Judicial activism at its worst. Sounds like they are facing an uphill battle against the Mafia in control of San Antonio.
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