Who Is Responsible for Your Personal Security at a Store, Restaurant, or Other Public Location?
Like virtually everyone else in the United States, you spend a fair amount of your time in public places like stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, offices, and so forth. You find yourself in garages, parking lots, and in different types of establishments at different times of the day and even of the night. When you enter and exit business establishments, when you are in a business itself, your personal safety and security is a consideration. The obligation of a business is to keep you reasonably safe not only from physical injury (like a slip and fall) but also reasonably secure from being criminally victimized. The Doan Law Firm personal injury lawyer hotline at (800) 349-000 exists to provide a wide range of information, including in regard to injuries, damages, and losses arising from being a victim of crime on the premises of a business.
The sad reality is that in this day and age there are people of ill intent who cause harm to people like you as you go about your life. From robberies to assaults to rapes to an array of other types of criminal activities, people unfortunately are at some degree of risk when they are out and about in publicly accessible locations.
An important fact you need to understand is that the responsibility for your personal safety and security when you are patronizing a business of some type is not yours alone. The reality is that a business has a legal duty to ensure that it provides its customers of client with a reasonable level of security when shopping, dining, or otherwise patronizes an establishment.
The Media and Mass Shootings: Safety and Security at a Business Involves Many More Scenarios
For understandable reasons, mass shooting s that take place at public venues like retail stores, nightclubs, restaurants, and other locations garner a considerable amount of media attention. The reality is that many more people are victims of crime in these types of business settings and don’t snare the attention of the press.
A common type of incident involves an individual patronizing an establishment after dark who ends up becoming the victim of crime in a parking lot or parking garage owned by or under the control of a particular business. For example, every day in the United States people who are customers or clients of a business end up the victims of crimes like strong-arm robbery or sexual assault in a parking facility associated with a store, restaurant, or some other establishment.
Examples of how a business might be deemed to have failed to keep patrons reasonably safe and secure include a lack of appropriate lighting in a parking facility and other areas. Another example of failing to keep customers or clients reasonably safe include permitting known vagrants to congregate around the exterior of the premises.
While it’s all well and good that the perpetrator of a crime such as these is arrested and prosecuted, in many ways that is not enough to restore a sense of justice in your life. This particularly is the case is a merchant or business failed to maintain a reasonable level of security at its location, a lapse that exposed you to a greater risk of becoming the victim of a crime.
Whether or not the perpetrator is caught, you very well may be in a position to bring a claim against a business for injuries, damages, and losses sustained because of a crime in which you are the victim. Pursuing this type of case is a complicated, challenging matter and necessitates the involvement of a skilled, experienced personal injury lawyer, like a member of the legal team at The Doan Law Firm.
Schedule an Appointment With a Doan Law Firm Personal Injury Lawyer
You can schedule an initial consultation with a Doan Law Firm personal injury lawyer right now by calling (800) 349-0000. We are a nationwide law firm, with offices located from coast to coast. We can also arrange a virtual appointment with you online.
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