These Factors May Determine an Inadequate Security Claim

Inadequate security on public property can lead to your injuries. If that happens, the property owner or occupier might be liable for your injuries. However, you need to prove your claim before you can claim damages from the liable party. Below are some of the factors a court may consider when evaluating an inadequate security claim.

Cause of Injury

You can only base your claim on inadequate security if adequate security could have prevented your injuries. Thus, you must prove your injury's cause and relate it to inadequate security. For example, security doesn't play a role in slip and fall accidents, so you cannot use inadequate security in a related injury claim.



Adequate security can only prevent criminal acts by third parties, such as:

• Battery
• Sexual assault
• Robberies

You can claim inadequate security if you suffer injuries from such criminal acts.

Crime Statistics

The law recognizes that property owners cannot prevent every criminal act or injury possible. However, the government expects property owners to prevent foreseeable injuries. Thus, you can instigate an inadequate security claim if you suffer injury in a foreseeable attack. One way to determine the foreseeability of an attack is to review past crime statistics.



Consider a case in which a mall parking lot has witnessed several robberies and assaults in the past few months. The mall owner should foresee further similar attacks and take relevant measures to prevent them. The mall owner might be guilty of inadequate security if they don't act and someone assaults you in the same parking lot.

Security Measures 

Review the security measures the property owners took to preempt attacks on their property. You have a claim against the property if the measures are inadequate. For example, you may have a claim if:

• The property doesn't have enough security guards
• The property doesn't have working security cameras
• The property doesn't have sound physical barriers
• The property is poorly illuminated
• The property doesn't screen entrants

You have an even stronger claim if the missing security apparatus could have prevented your injury. Consider a case where someone cornered and attacked you in a parking lot, but no one came to your rescue despite your screams. You can argue that adequate security personnel and cameras could have prevented or minimized your injuries.

Nature of the Business

Some businesses require more extensive security than others due to the nature of their operations do. For example, an alcohol-serving establishment (think of a nightclub) should have more security than, say, a grocery store. The intoxicating nature of alcohol means the nightclub is more likely to witness violent tendencies than the grocery store.



Thus, the inadequacy of security measures will be relative to other similar businesses. The same situation that might trigger inadequate security in one establishment might not trigger the same claim in a different establishment.

Plaintiff Status

Your status on the property determines the level of duty that the property owner owes you. Property owners owe the highest level of care to invitees, followed by licensees, and lastly, trespassers.

Thus, you may need to prove that you were on the property legally. For example, you shouldn't have been on the premises on a Saturday if it doesn't. In such a case, you may only recover damages if the property owner foresaw your trespassing or created the danger that caused your injury.

Your case's strength will depend on multiple issues such as the nature of your evidence, your credibility, and your witnesses' credibility, among other things. Wegner & Associates can help you gather evidence and compellingly present them in court. Contact us for a free initial consultation to review your case and determine how to proceed.