Brown v. Jacobs
Annotate this CaseDebara Brown filed a complaint as executor of the estate of her husband (the decedent), a private investigator, against Ali Al-Ibrahim Abid, alleging that Abid killed the decedent while he was attempting to serve divorce papers on Abid. Brown was granted leave to file an amended complaint to add a wrongful death claim against Sherwin Jacobs, the attorney who hired the decedent to serve Abid, claiming that Jacobs was negligent because he did not warn Abid of the risks of personally serving Abid. The circuit court ultimately dismissed the case against Jacobs with prejudice. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in sustaining Jacobs’ demurrer to Brown’s amended complaint because Brown failed to allege facts sufficient to establish that a special relationship existed between Jacobs and the decedent imposing a duty upon Jacobs to warn the decedent of potential danger from criminal assault by a third party.
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