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Target not obligated by law to provide defibrillators in stores: Appeals court

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Target Corp. is not obligated to provide heart defibrillators in its stores, a federal appeals court said after consulting with the California Supreme Court on the issue, though one of its judges said box stores have a “moral obligation” to keep such equipment on hand in case a customer has a heart attack.

Mary Ann Verdugo, 49, was shopping in a Pico Rivera, California, Target store in August 2008 when she suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and collapsed, according to Michael Verdugo et al. v. Target Corp., filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

In response to a 911 call, paramedics were dispatched from a nearby fire station, but it took them several minutes to reach the store and a few additional minutes to reach Ms. Verdugo inside the store, by which time it was too late to save her life. The store had no automatic external defibrillator on hand.

Ms. Verdugo's brother and mother filed suit against Minneapolis-based Target, charging the retailer breached the duty of care that it owed Ms. Verdugo by failing to have a defibrillator on hand for use in a medical emergency.

The U.S. District Court in Pasadena, California granted Target's motion to dismiss the case, concluding it had no duty to acquire and make available a defibrillator for customers' use.

The plaintiffs appealed the ruling to the 9th Circuit, which determined California law did not provide a clear answer to the question of whether Target was required under California law to have a defibrillator in its stores. The appeals court then asked the California Supreme Court to consider the question.

In a unanimous ruling in June, the California Supreme Court held that under California law, “Target's common-law duty of care to its customers does not include a duty to acquire and make available” a defibrillator for use in a medical emergency.

In its ruling Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit affirmed the U.S. District Court ruling, based on the state Supreme Court's guidance.

However, in a separate opinion, Judge Harry Pregerson said he hopes big box stores, including Target, “will, at the very least recognize their moral obligation” to have a heart defibrillator on hand for use in a medical emergency.

“Should that not come to pass, I hope that our California legislature takes a hard look at this issue,” he said, observing also that at least one state, Oregon, has enacted a statue that requires big box stores to have a defibrillator on hand.

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