Injuries Caused by Inadequate Security
No one can predict with certainty when or where a crime will occur, but often certain types of crimes are foreseeable and predictable. The crimes of robbery, assault, and rape are often foreseeable and preventable. Criminals are drawn to easy targets, such as locations without security cameras, security lighting, security doors, security guards, streetlights and similar safety features that discourage and decrease criminal activity. When a property owner fails to take necessary steps to keep the property safe and secure, people who visit the property are vulnerable to attack, injury, and even death. Just because an owner provides some level of security does not mean that the security provided was reasonable and adequate. If you or a loved one has suffered an attack on someone else’s property due to inadequate security, and the property owner had knowledge of the potential dangers, you probably have a solid premises liability case that could entitle you to compensation.
In a premises liability case, the property owner is liable for damages suffered by innocent people who come on the property and who are injured as a result of the crimes and violent acts of third parties. These acts would not have occurred but for the owner’s failure to keep the property safe and secure. Such injuries may arise in a variety of ways, including robbery, assault, battery, sexual assault, and kidnapping.
Below are some common examples of negligent security:
- Failure to install or monitor security cameras
- Failure to warn visitors about any known risks or dangers
- Failure to hire competent security guards
- Failure to properly supervise security guards
- Failure to respond to a security alert or emergency call
- Failure to request police security checks
- Failure to provide adequately trained security personnel or patrol
- Failure to install physical barriers, like gates, locks fences or doors
- Failure to fix broken physical barriers, such as gates, locks, fences, or doors
- Failure to maintain an establishment’s appearance
- Failure to maintain adequate lighting in dark areas
Examples of Inadequate Security
In order to succeed in a premises liability case, the injured person must prove that a property owner or occupier failed to take reasonable and prudent steps to prevent the act that caused the injuries. When a crime like rape, abduction, or assault happens due to inadequate security, the property owner should be held accountable and made to pay fair compensation to the injured person.
Proving an Inadequate Security Case
In a negligent security lawsuit, the injured plaintiff must prove that the property owner failed to exercise reasonable care or failed to provide adequate warnings to prevent visitors from suffering injuries. The injured plaintiff must also prove that he/she was lawfully present on the landowner’s property, that the landowner breached the duty to provide adequate security, that the breach caused the injury to occur, and that the injured plaintiff suffered injuries that were foreseeable and preventable if the landowner had acted reasonably and provided adequate security.
Foreseeability of injury is a vital part of most negligent security cases. Whether an act is foreseeable is often proven with evidence of prior similar crimes in the same area that the landowner knew or should have known of before the incident happened. For example, if there were several prior rapes in a hotel parking garage before the injuries in later attack happened, then the owner should have foreseen that failing to provide better security would lead to other similar attacks. In this example, the owner should have stepped up its security to prevent additional rapes from happening. Failing to do so, is negligent security.
Common locations where inadequate security can occur include:
- Hotels, motels, or inns
- Parking decks
- Parking lots
- Vacant lots
- Office buildings
- Restaurants
- Apartment buildings
- Campus housing
- ATM machines and banks
- Parking ramps
- Private residences
Our Asheville, North Carolina Premises Liability Lawyers Can Help You Obtain Justice
If you have suffered serious injuries on another’s property due to inadequate security, you may be entitled to significant financial compensation for damages associated with the event, including medical care, lost wages, and pain and suffering. At Davis Law Group, in Asheville, North Carolina, our personal injury attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for our clients and would be honored to do the same for you.