A lawyer for the parents of a Savannah State University student who was gunned down at its Student Center in 2015 urged a Georgia Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday to revive a premises lawsuit holding the state-run foundation that leases the building to the school—one of more than 160 properties the University System of Georgia Real Estate Foundation LLC controls statewide—liable for his death. 

A Fulton County judge ruled last year that, while the foundation [the USG-REF III] does hold the lease to the property, which is actually owned by the state Board of Regents and is leased back, it has no role in providing security for the center and is instead an “out of possession” landlord.