When you visit another person’s home or place of business, you should not have to worry about intruders entering the premises, stealing your stuff, or harming you. You expect that the place is reasonably secure. Unfortunately, if a home or business owner does not take proper precautions regarding security, their visitors, customers, or tenants could be at risk of suffering serious harm from a violent crime.
If you believe you or your loved one sustained injuries because someone failed to keep their property reasonably safe, you might have legal grounds to pursue a civil premises liability claim for compensation. A League City negligent security lawyer from Schechter, Shaffer & Harris could help you understand your legal options.
How Do Negligent Security Claims Work?
Every legal visitor has a right to expect that the property they visit will be reasonably safe. If you visit another person’s property, business, or land and suffer an injury due to a hidden danger, you might be able to seek financial compensation. A negligent security claim would fall under the area of premises liability and would seek to hold a property or business owner liable for an injury occurring from lack of security. Although people are not generally legally responsible for the actions of third parties, a negligent security claim is an exception to that theory.
To prevail in a negligent security lawsuit in League City, you would need to establish that you or your loved one suffered an injury from the foreseeable act of a third party due to the negligent security on the property. A skilled attorney could look at the security measures taken by the home or business owner to see if they were insufficient.
Reasonable Security Precautions
Every property owner, landlord, business manager, or other person or entity in control of a property must take reasonable actions to protect visitors against foreseeable risks from third parties. There are no set security measures that every property owner must provide to their visitors because each situation is unique. Each negligent security claim involves a review of certain factors to determine if the risk of crime was reasonably foreseeable. Courts will consider the location of the property, the level and history of crimes in the surrounding area, and the type of activity and number of people on the property.
Many negligent security claims involve businesses, such as restaurants, bars, and sports arenas, that are open to the public. For instance, if a small bar in a relatively safe area of town failed to have a bouncer on a Tuesday at dinnertime and a patron suffered harm when a drunk man punched them, that might not be negligent security. However, if a large nightclub failed to have adequate security personnel or metal detectors to search or scan bags during a concert at a popular nightclub on a busy weekend night and a concertgoer suffered an injury when an intruder entered the building and opened fire, that could constitute negligence.
Similarly, it could be negligence if a convenience store worker suffered a gunshot wound in a holdup if the store had no security cameras and took no other precautionary measures to keep employees and patrons safe.
Negligent security claims can also involve residential apartment buildings or college campuses. If a landlord fails to have a doorman to stop unwanted intruders or bars on the windows of basement dorm rooms or apartments, that could be negligent security.
Our determined League City legal team could carefully review the evidence to look for proof of negligent security in your case.
Consult with a League City Negligent Security Attorney
When you are a lawful visitor on someone else’s property, you should not have to worry about your safety from criminal attacks. Being a victim of a violent crime can change your life and come with serious medical expenses.
Consult with a compassionate League City negligent security lawyer who could fight for you.
