Property owners, especially business owners, owe a duty of care to visitors and guests. In some cases, this means that business owners must provide adequate security to protect patrons from theft, assault and other crimes. Sometimes, even inadequate lighting may be grounds for a premises liability claim, if it contributes to an injury. Watch attorney Christopher Castro discuss these facets of premises liability law as he answers the question: what is negligent security?
Video Transcription
Negligent security deals with the issues of premises liability again. It talks about knowledge and awareness, the expectation that somebody could be harmed in a certain type of situation. So, let’s say like at Christmas time when people are out shopping in malls, it’s not uncommon that there are thieves out there who are preying on these individuals who are walking back and forth to their car and the mall owner or the premises owner is expected to have some kind of expectation and knowledge that you know there are these kinds of unsavory elements in our society that somebody may be preyed upon. And so therefore, negligent security can include improper lighting, can include improper patrolling, I’ve also had cases that involved things sticking out of concrete such as remnants from maybe like a parking curb. In that particular matter the piece of rebar or the piece of steel that was sticking out of the concrete, the premises owner instead of removing the piece of steel which was essentially maybe a three or four inch piece of steel, they had taken a hammer and tried to bend it down and when they bent it down they left it there and if you can imagine a piece of rebar it’s impossible to bend uniformly with the surface and that resulted in a defect in the premises which resulted in a case and a claim and a recovery on behalf of our client. For a free consultation I would ask that you give us a call we’re Galloway Jefcoat law firm Lafayette Louisiana, our telephone number is 337-984-8020 or you can also reach us at www.GallowayJefcoat.com.
June 11, 2021