Sumter Negligent Security Lawyer
Individuals are legally responsible for assaults and other violent crimes. Sometimes, they are financially responsible for them as well. Usually, however, this burden falls on a property owner. In either case, a partnership with a Sumter negligent security lawyer from the Stanley Law Group ensures maximum compensation for victims. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Physical assaults and sexual assaults usually cause serious injuries that, in most cases, are permanent. These injuries include visible wounds, like broken bones, and invisible ones, like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Broken bones eventually heal, at least for the most part. Even after doctors and physical therapists do their best work, these victims usually have lingering injuries, such as permanent loss of use. PTSD is a physical brain injury caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. A combination of medication and therapy could manage the symptoms. But nothing “cures” PTSD.
How a Sumter Negligent Security Lawyer Establishes the Duty of Care
The individual duty of care is clear in these cases. Even when threatened, people have an ethical duty to find a non-forceful solution. Other assaults are never justified, no matter what.
Criminal courts review the facts and assess punishment if appropriate. Civil courts assess the facts and award compensation, if appropriate.
Civil courts also determine if a landlord or property owner has a similar duty of care. In South Carolina, the duty of care varies according to the relationship between the victim and owner, as follows:
- Invitee: Most negligent security victims are invitees. They have direct or indirect permission to visit the building or house for commercial or social purposes. Property owners have a duty to ensure these guests are reasonably safe. They must set up adequate security systems and properly maintain them.
- Licensee: Some uninvited guests have a “license: to visit the property. This license basically means the owner doesn’t care if the person is there or not. A guest of an apartment tenant is a licensee. Since the relationship is not as close, the duty of care is not as high, and these people are legally entitled to less protection.
- Trespasser: Quite simply, guests are trespassers if they don’t have permission to enter and they don’t benefit the owner. A door-to-door salesperson who ignores a “no solicitors” sign is usually a trespasser. Owners must refrain from intentionally harming trespassers, but other than that, the law doesn’t protect them, at least in most cases.
This classification system is quite complex, mostly because the categories overlap. Tim the tenant is an invitee at an apartment complex unless he does not pay his rent or follow another rule. Then, he becomes a trespasser.
Obtaining Compensation
Knowledge of hazard and foreseeability (possibility) of injury are the two other key components of a negligent security case.
Owners are responsible for injuries if they knew about, or should have known about, an injury-causing hazard. These hazards include broken gates, malfunctioning cameras, and propped-open security gates. As mentioned, the plan must also feature an adequate security level (e.g. armed or unarmed security).
The security level, as well as foreseeability of injury, hinges on factors like the area’s crime rate, the type of business, and any prior similar incidents or complaints.
Knowledge is relatively straightforward if the defendant is an individual. Mind-altering substances, like cocaine, and conditions, like insanity, usually don’t change the fact that the defendant knew what s/he was doing.
Generally, right or wrong does not matter in civil court. Neither does malicious or non-malicious. For tort purposes, intentional or unintentional is the only issue.
Work With a Detail-Oriented Sumter County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Sumter negligent security lawyer, contact the Stanley Law Group. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.
