Negligent Security

Negligent & Inadequate Security Lawyers in Fort Lauderdale

Property Safety

The owner of property has a duty to all invitees to make sure that their property is reasonably safe and to warn of any dangers on the property. At Coffey McPharlin, we consult on South Florida slip and fall, trip and fall, and negligent security cases every day.

This includes any problems with respect to crimes, occurring at or near the property, that have the possibility of resulting in a criminal attack upon unsuspecting visitors. Premises negligence cases can result from a slip and fall or a trip and fall on slippery or uneven walking surfaces, the lack of a handrail at a staircase, a staircase that is not built to a building code, walkways that have an obstruction that causes someone to strike their head, as well as simple holes in parking lots that have not been properly maintained. We have handled premises negligence liability cases involving falling objects, faulty equipment, situations where the property owner has allowed a crowd that is unruly to gather and cause something to be hurt, and just about any kind of dangerous situation that occurs that has the potential for hurting somebody on a piece of property.

In our experience, premises negligence cases are the second most common type of accident, after transportation-related accidents. We have been involved with premises liability cases that occur on public properties, such as: Public sidewalks and governmental facilities, airports, libraries, hospitals, municipal buildings, schools and other public places; places of public accommodation such as shopping malls like the Sawgrass Mills Mall, the Boca Raton Town Center Mall, the Aventura Mall, the Galleria Mall Fort Lauderdale, Cocowalk in Coconut Grove; hotels like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Best Western, Ramada, Weston, Motel 6, Holiday Inn, and Days Inn; convention centers; supermarkets like Publix, Winn-Dixie, Albertson’s, Walmart, TJ Maxx, Whole Foods and the Fresh Market; department stores like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdale’s; as well as private residences owned by individuals, apartment buildings, condominium associations, and vacant or abandoned land and structures owned by individuals, corporations, and banks.

Negligent Security Cases

Another instance is where a person can get hurt from a simple slip and fall accident and then tragically lose their life as a result of medical or hospital negligence, caused by complications from the slip and fall. We were recently involved in a case to help a family recover after a loved one slipped and fell in a local supermarket and broke his kneecap. All that was required was a simple outpatient surgery to fix the fracture, after which, the leg was placed in a leg brace. Unfortunately, victim developed blood clots that migrated to his lungs and took his life in a process known as DVT, resulting in pulmonary embolism that took the life of the family’s loved one. Based upon existing Florida law, the family sued for slip and fall wrongful death against the supermarket and obtained a recovery for the full measure of damages for the loss of the life of their loved one, without needing to resort to a claim for medical negligence against a doctor.

We litigate significant personal injury and wrongful death cases for the victims of crime that occur at commercial properties due to violent criminal attacks. If a property owner fails to provide adequate security and a person is attacked by a criminal on the property, then, under Florida law, the owner is responsible for all of the damage caused by the criminal attack. We retain law enforcement veterans from the FBI, CIA, and the local police departments to serve as security experts to look at crimes on the property historically as well as the security measures in place at the time of the attack on the property and at the surrounding properties – all to determine whether or not the property owner could have done something different to prevent the crime. These cases are complex and time consuming in order to develop the best strategy, but we believe that we have a winning formula.