Miami Negligent Security Attorneys

Negligent security cases are not uncommon in Florida. They can arise on any type of property, commercial or residential, whether publicly owned or privately maintained. An accident resulting from negligent security can even happen if you’re just passing through on your way to another destination! Some of the locations where security breaches can occur include restaurants, schools and universities, hospitals, nightclubs, parks and playgrounds, hotels, banks, shopping centers, and so on.

Damages You Can Receive for Negligent Security Injuries in Miami, FL

Business and property owners’ lack of adequate security measures may put you in danger. You might sustain catastrophic injuries if you are a victim of a violent crime. These ailments might require a lot of medical attention and rehabilitation. Some injuries might result in a disability that keeps you from working for the rest of your life. You may also continue to be plagued by the memory of your accident for years. You shouldn’t have to pay for an injury that could have been prevented in the first place. The good news is that filing a personal injury claim may help you recover compensation for your losses.

Our negligent security attorneys at Kaire & Heffernan, LLC will work tirelessly to secure both economic and non-economic damages for you. This might include:

• Medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Nursing care
• Disfigurement and scarring
• Emotional distress
• Lower earning potential
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Pain and suffering
• Disability

Have you been hurt as a result of negligent security in Miami? Learn about how Miami personal injury lawyers from Kaire & Heffernan can assist you in obtaining the compensation you deserve.

How Long Do You Have to File For a Negligent Security Claim?

Potential plaintiffs in a negligent security case have four years from the date of the incident to file suit against the property owner or manager, as set out in Florida Revised Statutes §95.11.

The statute of limitations is the same whether or not a victim seeks legal assistance from an attorney. However, the earlier you contact Miami negligent security lawyers, the better your chances of having that inadequate security claim filed on time. Filing for negligent or inadequate security right away also ensures critical evidence can be preserved for when you need it later down the line!

Reasons to Hire a Negligent Security Lawyer to Represent You

There are several ways in which a negligent security lawyer can help your case. One of the biggest advantages of hiring a lawyer is that you will have an experienced legal specialist who understands the relevant legislation needed to fight for you. A skilled and seasoned security lawyer will work hard to safeguard your rights while also pursuing compensation on your behalf. A Miami negligent security attorney can assist you in several ways, including:

Determining the At-Fault Party

A lot of people assume the property owner is responsible for their losses in an inadequate security case. While this may often be the case, keep in mind that there may be other liable parties in your negligent security lawsuit. It can be crucial to identify all liable parties in order to receive full compensation.

Your lawyer will look into your case to determine who is responsible and collect enough money to compensate for your suffering and any monetary loss.

Can a Business Be Liable for Failing to Protect You?

If you have been injured by a criminal who committed a crime at a business you visited (or perhaps where you work), it is easy to believe that your predicament is just the result of bad fortune or bad luck: you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You may believe that the only route to justice is to do your part to put the criminal perpetrator behind bars. However, if you have been injured by a crime committed at a business in Miami, a negligent security attorney may be able to help you.

While bringing a criminal to justice may help you to overcome some of the emotional turmoil caused by your experience, sometimes though, justice is not entirely served through the criminal justice system. Sometimes, part of the responsibility for your injury rests not only upon the criminal, but also upon a business proprietor who had a duty to protect you from harm, but failed to do so.

This area of the law is known as premises liability, or, more specifically, negligent security.

As a general rule, Miami property owners and business owners have a non-delegable duty to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. This includes everything from lighting to providing security.

That being said, as a general rule, businesses are not liable to their business patrons who are victimized by criminals upon their business premises, absent a showing of negligence.

However, there are important exceptions to this general rule: if the property owner or operator of a business knew or should have known that criminal activity was highly likely to occur, and failed to take reasonable steps to protect its customers from that foreseeable criminal conduct, that business may be liable in tort for the personal injuries suffered by its customers from a crime carried out upon the premises.

Businesses Duty to Protect Its Customers

Unfortunately, it is not as uncommon as one might wish that a person can be a victim of a crime while on business premises. All too often, individuals suffer an injury from the conduct of a thief or mugger while patronizing a business such as a convenience store, a hotel or motel, a restaurant, a bar, or a shopping mall.

Businesses like apartment houses, shopping centers, parking lots, parking garages, apartment complexes, and condominiums are also the scene of many personal injury crimes, such as muggings, rapes, murders, and assaults.

For that matter, nearly every large business facility has a parking facility associated with it, and criminals often target these facilities—particularly hospitals, restaurants, and large retail establishments—where it is not uncommon for employees and patrons to be coming and going when it is late and dark and few people are present.

While not every instance of personal injury by a criminal on a business premise creates tort liability for a business, there are circumstances when it can.

General Rules for Negligence

1. there is a duty to the victim;
2. the duty is breached;
3. the breach causes an injury;
4. the victim suffers damages.

Every business has a duty to protect its customers and others from harm. Thus, the spilled bottle of olive oil in the grocery store must be cleaned up as soon as possible, before someone slips on it and hurts himself.

But when a third party—a criminal—is the direct cause of the injury, a business can still be held liable if the failure to provide proper security was a substantial contributing cause to the victim’s injury.

Was Criminal Conduct Foreseeable?

The primary issue in finding liability in a Florida negligent security case is foresee-ability.

Foresee-ability concerns whether the business has taken adequate steps to guard its customers against any criminal conduct that can be reasonably anticipated.

If a Miami business has never experienced any crimes on its premises and the surrounding area is relatively crime free, and if the business utilizes stringent security measures, such as monitored cameras, security guards, adequate lighting, secure doors and gates, and an alarm system, chances are, it will not be liable for any criminal conduct on its premises because the crime in question was not reasonably foreseeable, given the history of the area and the measures were taken by the business to prevent crimes from being carried out on its premises.

Examples of Negligent Security

However, many Florida businesses are not so careful about protecting their customers from violent crime. This is especially true in challenging economic times. We have found that the first thing to get cut is the security budget. This includes everything from not doing a security analysis prior to opening a location, not installing security cameras or security systems, to firing security personnel.

These cases make for compelling arguments when companies choose profits over safety.

Additionally, some businesses, even if they take some security measures, do not do enough, or fail to maintain security on a consistent basis. Perhaps they frequently failed to replace light bulbs that had burned out in stairwells or other traffic areas or did not replace or fix broken locks, gates, or fences. Maybe they let the shrubbery become overgrown, providing convenient hiding places for criminals to lie in wait for a victim. Or they did not adequately screen an employee who had a criminal history or did not train a new employee on what steps they must take in the event of a crime.

Even a business that implements and maintains security measures may be liable if they fail to take additional measures in the wake of an increase in crime in the area, or become aware of certain types of crimes that are occurring, for which different security steps would be more appropriate.