At around 12:13 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 7, 2015, plaintiffs’ decedent Shayan Mazroei, 22, a student, was killed by Craig Tanber at Patsy’s Irish Pub, a pub located in an outdoor strip mall in a residential area of Laguna Niguel. Patsy’s has two main rooms, a “restaurant” room and a “sports” room, which have separate doors leading out to a front patio area that borders the strip mall’s outdoor parking lot. Tanber had been released from prison for a prior murder just four months earlier. Prior to the incident at Patsy’s, at around 11:20 p.m. on the night of Sept. 6, 2015, Tanber and his female friend, Elizabeth Thornburg, arrived at Patsy’s with the intent of playing pool and drinking. Just after midnight, Thornburg and Mazroei, who had been at Patsy’s playing pool for about two hours, were smoking in the front patio area of the pub when they struck up a conversation. About five minutes into their conversation, Thornburg and Mazroei began exchanging insults, which led to Thornburg spitting at Mazroei. As a result, Mazroei got up and entered Patsy’s through the door leading to the “sports” room. However, before entering Patsy’s, Mazroei spit in Thornburg’s face and flicked his lit cigarette at her. Thornburg then followed Mazroei inside, and Mazroei called for Patsy’s security guard, Mark Fillingham, to intercede. Fillingham, at the time of the incident, was working as the sole security guard at Patsy’s. He told Mazroei to stay inside Patsy’s and he escorted Thornburg outside. Fillingham then questioned Thornburg about the incident outside. Thornburg confirmed that she spit at Mazroei. At this point, Fillingham told Thornburg that she had to leave. Tanber, who was now standing next to Thornburg, became enraged and said he “should stick” Mazroei for disrespecting his girl. Tanber also said that he was going to “mow down” and “‘F’ up” Mazroei and that Fillingham should not get in his way. Since Fillingham understood Tanber’s words to be a threat of a stabbing and a threat on Mazroei’s life, he demanded that Tanber leave Patsy’s, as well. When Tanber walked off toward the parking lot as Fillingham talked to Thornburg, Fillingham assumed that Tanber had left Patsy’s. However, Tanber had just walked down to the patio and sat on a bench. As Fillingham continued to talk to Thornburg, Mazroei tried to leave Patsy’s through the front door, but Fillingham told him to remain inside. Then, as Fillingham was about to end his conversation with Thornburg, Fillingham was called over to the other front door to Patsy’s to assist some intoxicated patrons that needed help with a cab. As he went from the sports door to the restaurant door (about 20 feet separated the two doors), Fillingham walked right past Tanber, who got up, went to the unguarded sports door, opened the door and asked Mazroei to come outside. Mazroei did as requested, and he was immediately assaulted and killed by Tanber. Fillingham gave chase but could not catch Tanber, who fled the scene. Tanber was ultimately arrested four days after the incident. He is currently awaiting his criminal trial, where he faces a possible life sentence. Mazroei’s family and the district attorney have labeled Tanber’s actions a hate crime in the criminal case. The decedent’s parents, Shahzad and Hamid Mazroei, brought a civil suit against Tanber; Thornburg; Fillingham; the operator of Patsy’s Irish Pub, Coastal Green Inc.; the property manager, South County Grove LLC; and the property owners, Annenberg LP, George Chade, Irma Chade, Layla Chade and Leo Chade. The decedent’s family claimed that Tanber and Thornburg were to blame for the fatal assault and that the remaining defendants were to blame for the inadequate or negligent security. Tanber did not appear at the civil trial and was not represented by counsel. Thus, a default judgment was entered against him. Thornburg was ultimately let out of the case, and Annenberg LP and the Chades were all dismissed before trial for waivers of costs. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Coastal Green failed to properly train its security guard, Fillingham, and that Fillingham was negligent for allowing Tanber to remain on the pub’s premises after he threatened the life of Shayan Mazroei. Counsel also contended that Fillingham should have warned Mazroei of the threat on his life so that Mazroei could have taken more precautions or made different decisions. Plaintiffs’ counsel further contended that Fillingham should have called the police when Tanber did not leave Patsy’s premises. Both Fillingham and the defense’s security expert acknowledged that Fillingham was not properly trained, as Fillingham failed to attend the required classes that would have enabled him to work as a private security guard. They also acknowledged that Fillingham made a mistake when he failed to ensure that Tanber had left Patsy’s premises before he left the door that lead to Mazroei unguarded. Defense counsel argued that given Patsy’s location, clientele, relative minor criminal history, and the preceding events of the evening, Tanber’s attack was unforeseeable and that Fillingham’s actions were reasonable under the circumstances. Counsel also argued that formal training would not have resulted in Fillingham taking different actions and the end result would not have been different. In addition, defense counsel argued that Mazroei would still be alive if he had heeded Fillingham’s instructions to stay inside Patsy’s., Shayan Mazroei was fatally stabbed once in the heart before Fillingham could rush over to separate the two combatants. Mazroei stumbled back into Patsy’s, where he died from his wound. He was 22 years old. Mazroei was survived by his mother, Shahzad Mazroei, then 45 years old, and his father, Hamid Mazroei, then 51 years old. Shayan Mazroei was a regular patron of Patsy’s and, at the time of the incident, he lived with his parents. He was born in Tehran, Iran, and he and his parents immigrated to the United States in 1999. They ultimately settled in Laguna Niguel in 2013. Mazroei also owned and operated a used car dealership in Santa Ana, which he co-owned with his father. Plaintiffs’ counsel asked the jury to award Mazroei’s parents $39.5 million in wrongful death damages for the loss of their only child. Counsel also asked the jury to find Coastal Green (doing business as Patsy’s) and Fillingham 80 percent responsible for Mazroei’s death and Tanber only 20 percent liable. Defense counsel asked the jury to render a defense verdict for Coastal Green and Fillingham. However, if liability was adverse, defense counsel suggested that the jury find Coastal Green and Fillingham no more than 5 percent responsible, and find that Shayan Mazroei was up to 5 percent liable and that Tanber was least 90 percent at fault. Further, defense counsel suggested that the plaintiffs should not be awarded more than $500,000 in damages.