NEWARK — In defense of a lawsuit over a 2013 fatal carjacking at The Mall at Short Hills, a security company has won civil judgments against the four alleged killers.
As it battles a lawsuit filed by the victim’s widow, California-based Universal Protection Service secured “default judgments” earlier this month against the four criminal defendants.
The company, which has provided security services at the upscale mall in Millburn, has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the four men are responsible for the Dec. 15, 2013 murder of Hoboken attorney Dustin Friedland.
Due to the default judgments, the four men will not be able to assert a defense in the civil litigation, according to Bruce Nagel, the attorney representing Friedland’s widow, Jamie Schare Friedland.
Dustin Friedland and his wife, Jamie Schare Friedland. She is pursuing a lawsuit over the Dec. 15, 2013 fatal shooting of her husband at The Mall at Short Hills. (Facebook)
“The mall defendants are trying to blame the criminals as a way of defending themselves,” Nagel said.
Vincent Reilly, an attorney representing Universal Protection Service, declined to comment.
The four defendants – Karif Ford, Basim Henry, Hanif Thompson, and Kevin Roberts – have pleaded not guilty to the murder charges and remain in custody at the Essex County jail.
After Friedland filed her lawsuit in March against the company and other entities, Universal Protection Service filed a “third-party complaint” in May against the four criminal defendants, attributing any wrongdoing to them.
When the court instructed the company that its complaint would be dismissed due to a “lack of prosecution,” its attorneys asked Superior Court Judge James S. Rothschild, Jr. to stay that dismissal and give them more time.
Instead of granting that request, Rothschild on Jan. 9 granted the company’s alternative motion for “default judgments” against the four criminal defendants, court documents state.
Those judgments are approved when a party has failed to respond to a lawsuit. In court documents filed last month, attorneys for Universal Protection Service indicated the four defendants had not responded to their third-party complaint.
But Nagel said the judgments would not impact Friedland in her ongoing lawsuit over the fatal carjacking.
“It’s just a way that the mall defendants are attempting to avoid liability themselves,” said Nagel, adding that “they will try to hide behind this default to defend the case.” In addition to Universal Protection Service, the other defendants named in Friedland’s lawsuit include the mall’s owners, Michigan-based Taubman Centers, Inc., and the Millburn-Short Hills Volunteer First Aid Squad.
The lawsuit alleges the mall's owners knew of the history of carjackings in Essex County and failed to protect patrons during the busiest shopping season of the year.
First aid squad members had trouble accessing the crime scene when an ambulance could not fit under the parking deck’s ceiling, forcing emergency workers to roll a stretcher up the ramp and then wheel Dustin Friedland back down, the lawsuit states.
Since the lawsuit was filed in March, the mall's owners have lost a bid to dismiss Jamie Schare Friedland's claim for punitive damages, and another bid to prevent the public disclosure of surveillance videos related to the incident.
According to the owners, prospective criminals could use the footage to determine the location of the cameras. But Rothschild said it was unlikely that such individuals would study the footage to plan their criminal activity.
The judge denied the owners’ request for a “protective order” to cover the videos.
Those videos show the alleged killers' car driving around the mall on the night of the fatal carjacking and three days earlier, according to Friedland's attorneys.
The footage came from two security cameras mounted on the outside of mall buildings, Nagel has said. There were no security cameras inside the parking deck where the incident occurred, Nagel said.
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.