Negligent Security

Palm Beach County residents and tourists are often hurt when an individual or entity fails to adequately secure its property. The lawyers at Frankl Kominsky are available to help injury victims in West Palm Beach and nearby communities try to pursue their right to damages against negligent property owners. Our attorneys are available to provide the counseling and advocacy you may need if an entity’s carelessness in securing its premises harmed you.

Crimes sometimes occur because an area is poorly monitored. This is particularly likely to happen on commercial property, such as stores, restaurants, and parking lots. Certain characteristics of the premises can make it easier to facilitate a crime. Robbery, rape, or other serious offenses are sometimes the result of a lack of adequate security on the premises.

Many victims may not realize that the owner of the property where the illegal conduct occurred may be liable for related injuries. Even though the property owner did not commit a crime, its failure to secure its premises means it may be held accountable because the offense occurred in the first place. If a crime happens on a property, and the owner did not take appropriate measures to prevent it, the victim may have an injury claim under a theory of premises liability.

To hold a property owner liable in a premises liability claim, you must show duty, breach, causation, and damages. First, the owner must have a duty to conform to a certain standard of care. It likely owes a duty of care to people lawfully on its property. This obligation means that it must protect these individuals from crimes that are reasonably foreseeable and preventable. For example, if there was an increase in the number of robberies in the area, the property owner may have a duty to implement additional security measures to prevent this type of offense from occurring on its premises.

Also, the property owner must have failed to conform to the standard of care. It may breach its duty by implementing inadequate or defective security, including poorly lit parking lots, overgrown bushes, and untrained or insufficient security guards. The property owner’s breach must be a direct cause of the crime, and the victim must have suffered actual damages as a result. In other words, there must be quantifiable costs related to your injury. These can include economic damages, such as hospital bills or lost wages, and non-economic damages, such as mental and emotional pain and suffering.

Florida gives injury victims only two years to file a claim after an accident or crime happens. If you do not initiate a lawsuit in time, you may not be able to seek damages against a negligent property owner.

If you are victimized in a Florida convenience store, you may have to overcome a statutory presumption against liability for certain owners under the Convenience Business Security Act. This rule may apply to property owners and operators of grocery stores and combination gas-grocery stores if they implement certain security measures, such as the installation of enhanced camera and lighting systems. Property owners must take more significant actions, however, if a serious crime previously occurred on their premises.

At Frankl Kominsky, we are available to provide dedicated representation in complex negligence cases throughout Palm Beach County. Our injury attorneys understand the physical and psychological scars that a crime can have on a victim. If a property owner’s negligent security allowed the incident to occur, we are available to provide the representation you need. We serve clients in Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton, Lake Worth, and Delray Beach, as well as surrounding communities. Call us at (561) 609-1948 or complete our online form for a free and confidential consultation. We speak Spanish and Creole.