Negligent Security Measures

Imagine this horrible scenario: you drive your car up a parking garage in search of a parking spot. The only available spots are on a dark, non-lit, level of the parking garage. You park there.  On the way to the exit, you are assaulted and now fighting for your life! Situations such as this can happen to anyone. It is critical that you know and understand your legal rights if you or a loved one experiences similar horrific situations. You may be able to sue the property owner under theories of negligent security. The Miami, Florida negligent security lawyers at Gerson & Schwartz, PA have the knowledge, experience and ability to make property owners pay for the harm done to individuals at the hands of criminals.

The Basics of Negligent Security Measures

In essence, whether it is at a shopping mall, parking lot, parking garage, apartment, etc., people have the right to be reasonably safe from foreseeable harm and criminal victimization. A case founded on negligent security principles relies on the failure to provide reasonable security measures for protecting individuals from preventable harms that a third party owes a legal duty to provide reasonably safe premises. This legal concept touches on premises liability grounds.  Per Florida’s premises liability law, landowners, possessors, landlords, business operators, and property managers have a duty to people lawfully on their premises to make the environment reasonably safe and to warn of latent danger.

Normally, cases involving negligent or inadequate security measures involve the failure to provide security guards, security cameras, adequate lighting, fencing, etc.  Property owners may also face liability here if they do not adequately train their employees or if they do not follow recognized security policies or procedures.   

Florida courts recognize that reasonable protection from “foreseeable crime” is one of many types of harms from which a duty should exist to protect against and to provide warning of. This concept is based on the property owner’s control or right to control his or her property. The property owner’s negligence is found when the harm was foreseeable. In simpler terms, it is the careless failure of the property owner to have foreseen the risk of harm to the plaintiff that is the heart of a case of negligent security. For a successful case, it must be shown by the preponderance of the evidence that the defendant property owner could have but did not foresee the victimization of the plaintiff.        

Statute of Limitations

Per Florida’s statute of limitations law, you have up to four years from the date of injury to file such a lawsuit. This must be strictly adhered to because if you do not file within this time limitations period, you are most likely barred from doing so.

Hire a Security Negligence Lawyer for Your Case

The Miami, Florida inadequate security lawyers of Gerson & Schwartz, PA have been representing clients in all areas of negligent security claims for more than 40 years. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a crime, or if you or a loved one has been seriously injured on another’s property, contact one of our attorneys for a free consultation on your case.

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