Negligent Security Claim with Minimal Medical Bills

Answer:

When we get calls about what we call negligent security claims, one of the first things we look into is the significance of the damage of the individual that’s been harmed. While it’s not always essential that the medical expenses need to be high, it is important that there is significant damage. There are cases where someone might have been shot in a robbery on a business premises, and by the time the EMS arrived, that person is already deceased. There aren’t going to be a lot of expenses in that case, but it could be a valuable claim. There are other instances where someone may have literally millions of dollars in medical expenses, but we can’t tie it back to the facility, so that case is not going to have much value.

The best thing to do is look at the injuries first, and then evaluate how those injuries occurred to begin to arrive at whether there’s a claim. There could be completely inadequate security in the face of a known danger, but no real harm associated with it, and you’re not going to have a very good negligent security case. You could be robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of a high-crime area that’s a supermarket, but receive no physical injuries, and you don’t really have much of case. You need to look at something where there are very significant injuries – someone has been shot or permanently disabled. We are currently working through a case where a gentleman was shot through the hip and his hip was destroyed and isn’t able to be repaired. That’s the type of injury you’re looking for in a negligent security case. If someone has a gunshot wound that heals, even though there potentially could be negligent security implications, that doesn’t make up a very good negligent security case. What we want to be on the lookout for is cases where someone has been harmed in an area where there was known to be some danger, and the facility owner didn’t do much to try to remedy it, and the person that was harmed has some type of significantly life-altering injury.