What Is Negligent Security?
Negligent security is a premises liability claim that holds negligent property owners and other parties who fail to maintain secure premises with reasonable measures, leading to harm or injury due to foreseeable criminal activity. That means the property owner knew or should have known about the potential for security risks and criminal activity. Victims of crimes that occur due to negligent security often suffer devastating physical injuries, disability, psychological trauma, pain and suffering, and other damages.Types of Negligent Security
A property owner's failure to provide sufficient safety measures on their premises can lead to numerous types of negligent security issues and criminal activity, resulting in injuries and damage. State laws recognize many types or categories of negligent security claims involving foreseeable dangers, such as criminal attacks, aggravated or sexual assaults, unarmed or armed robberies, and homicides. Common examples of negligent security are as follows:
- Broken or malfunctioning locks and unsecured doors
- Malfunctioning or lack of security systems
- Insufficient or poor lighting
- Lack of video surveillance systems and footage
- Lack of security guards or personnel
- Lack of adequate training of security guards or personnel
- Failure to warn of known dangers in the area
- Failure to address known security hazards
- Blocked or lack of sufficient emergency exits
- Unsecured fences or gates
Where Does Negligent Security Occur?
Negligent security issues arise from various premise types, including commercial, residential, and public or government properties. However, some venues are more susceptible to criminal activity than others, especially those lacking security staff, cameras, and other safety measures. Negligent security injuries and fatalities can happen at properties, including the following:- Restaurants and eateries
- Bars and nightclubs
- Concerts, sports parks, and other entertainment venues
- Hotels and resort casinos
- Gas stations and truck stops
- Retailers, grocers, and shopping centers
- Schools and universities
- Hospitals and medical centers
- Banks and business plazas
- Parks and playgrounds
- Parking garages and lots
- Factories and workplaces
- Homes and apartment complexes
When Can You Sue for Negligent Security?
You can sue for negligent security when evidence is sufficient enough to demonstrate the elements of negligence necessary to hold property owners and other parties liable for your injuries and damages. Establishing negligence means proving that the at-fault party owed you a duty of care, such as maintaining safe premises. It also means showing how they breached that duty by not providing adequate safety measures. Next, you must demonstrate how the breach is directly responsible for the injury or harm you suffered and that it caused actual damages, such as medical bills, income losses, and pain and suffering. An attorney can prove negligence on your behalf.Who Can You Sue for Negligent Security?
The criminal attacker is not the defendant in a negligent security claim. They typically are the defendant in a criminal case brought by authorities, where they may face fines and imprisonment. Civil negligent security claims are generally filed against the property owner and their insurance companies. However, there are negligent security cases involving other at-fault entities and can include multiple defendants. Other potentially liable parties when suing for negligent security include the following:
- Property Managers: Property management companies and managers have a duty to maintain premises in reasonably safe conditions. Failure to assess, warn, and protect visitors from foreseeable risks, including criminal acts, can make them liable.
- Landlords: Landlords are generally property owners. However, they have responsibilities when leasing property to tenants that are worth noting separately. For example, landlords must maintain common areas, such as parking lots, courtyards, and stairwells. They can be liable when they neglect to provide sufficient lighting in communal areas or fix broken locks, allowing an attacker to gain access.
- Commercial Businesses: Businesses leasing commercial spaces are responsible for maintaining safe premises and can be liable when customers and employees are attacked due to negligent security issues. Commercial businesses include offices, shopping outlets, stores, and restaurants.
- Security Companies: When businesses or property owners hire security contractors or companies who fail to maintain safe premises, those companies can also be liable for injuries and damage. Negligence includes inadequate training, ineffective surveillance, and a lack of safety responses to known security risks or threats.
Compensation Amounts When You Sue for Negligent Security
Depending on the circumstances, several types of damages can be recovered or compensated for after an injury in a negligent security incident. They fall into two primary categories: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are the financial losses incurred, whereas non-economic damages account for the intangible losses.
Factors including insurance policy limits, the extent of negligence, the severity of your injuries, your needs for long-term care, and the overall impact of injuries on daily tasks and work-related activities influence compensation amounts. Damages negligent security attorneys assess include:
- Medical Expenses: Healthcare costs for emergency, surgical, general, and rehabilitation care are covered. Proper documentation of all associated expenses, including medical equipment, devices, prescriptions, copays, and insurance deductibles, is required.
- Mental Health Care: Treatments, therapy sessions, workbooks, and medications for depression, anxiety, social isolation, and developing mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are all compensable damages.
- Long-Term Needs: The ongoing or long-term medical care needs and associated expenses can be assessed and calculated in compensation demands. Negligent security lawyers collaborate with physicians, medical experts, occupational therapists, and life care planners to determine long-term care needs.
- Lost Earnings: Depending on profession type and benefits, missed work causes lost earnings, including wages, salaries, tips, overtime, and commissions. You may seek compensation for lost sick or vacation pay, paid time off, healthcare benefits, and retirement or pension packages.
- Diminished Earning Capacity: Negligent security attorneys work alongside vocational experts to determine diminished earning capacity when injuries impose functional limitations or prohibit your ability to work at the job you had before the incident or to work at all.
- Pain and Suffering: Pain and suffering damages compensate for the intangible losses injuries impose. These include injury symptoms such as numbness, tingling, dizziness, pain, and headaches. Sleep disturbances, fear, anger, and other feelings of emotional distress are also compensable.
- Decreased Quality of Life: Injuries that reduce enjoyment in life due to long-term consequences can recover compensation for a decreased quality of life. These damages account for the limited or inability to perform basic care needs or participate in activities, hobbies, sports, and other social functions.
- Loss of Consortium: Another intangible damage you can pursue compensation for is a loss of consortium. It pays for the relationship benefits that injuries and disabilities cause, such as companionship, love, physical affection, intimacy, guidance, support, and assistance.
- Disfigurement or Disability: Injuries resulting in permanent impairments, such as scarring, disfigurement, amputations, and hearing or vision losses, can recover compensation for these non-economic losses.