Property owners in Pennsylvania have a duty to keep their land reasonably safe to prevent lawful visitors and tenants from getting accidentally hurt while there. Landowners generally are not liable for injuries caused by other people’s actions on their property. However, there are exceptions to these rules, and an experienced premises liability attorney could describe them in more detail during a consultation.
When you can prove a landowner failed to take reasonable steps to reduce the risk of criminal behavior on their property, you may have grounds to sue them over any injury you sustained on their land due to someone else’s criminal act. This sort of negligent security claim can be challenging to pursue, even compared to other types of premises liability lawsuits. You will want help from a diligent Reading negligent security lawyer from start to finish of the legal process.
It is only possible to file a premises liability lawsuit over negligent security if a criminal act on someone else’s property led to an injury severe enough to need professional medical care. Minor injuries that do not need professional care are not valid grounds for this claim, nor are crimes that only result in property damage or loss.
A crime must have been foreseeable by a landowner for a negligent security claim against them to be justified. As a Reading negligent security attorney could further explain, the landowner reasonably should have known that a particular crime was likely to happen on their property. A reasonable person with that knowledge should have taken specific steps to reduce the risk of that crime occurring.
Establishing the foreseeability of a criminal act can be a complex and often subjective process. Quantitative data like local crime statistics and records of similar crimes occurring on the same property could be helpful, but so can more qualitative details like witness testimony and input from criminologists or local police.
Beyond that, it will also be necessary to show that a specific foreseeable criminal act was the main and direct cause of the injury a case like this is built around. A Reading attorney could help collect and effectively use evidence like medical records, surveillance camera footage, and witness testimony to establish this during a negligent security claim.
A successful outcome from a negligent security lawsuit or settlement demand can allow recovery for both economic and non-economic damages, including:
With the help of a Reading negligent security attorney, the person who committed the crime in question can also be held civilly liable for these damages in many situations.
Being injured through a criminal act can be a frightening and frustrating experience, especially when the owner of the property on which the crime happened could have done more to prevent it. Fortunately, a situation like this may allow you to take legal action against that negligent property owner and demand compensation for the harm their negligence has led to you sustaining.
Working closely with a Reading negligent security lawyer may be a virtual necessity when you want to give yourself the best chances of case success and fair civil recovery. Call today for a consultation to discuss your case.