Being the victim of a crime is especially traumatic if you are injured while being accosted, assaulted, or otherwise personally violated. The sense of betrayal is even worse if the criminal has been aided or even lured into committing a crime of opportunity because of negligent security at the New Jersey site. If you have sustained a serious personal injury on someone else’s property and feel that negligent security on the part of the owner was a contributory cause, you need the services of an experienced premises liability attorney.
If you have suffered a serious personal injury in New Jersey as the victim of a crime in which negligent security was a factor, you should contact Nagel Rice LLP promptly. Our firm has premises liability attorneys with outstanding credentials, well-honed skills, and extensive experience in winning settlements and verdicts. Over the past three decades, we have won a billion dollars for our deserving clients and would like nothing better than to count you among them.
Premises Liability Crimes That Thrive When There is Negligent Security
Crimes whose unwitting victims only become aware that a crime has been committed well after the violation has taken place (e.g. fraud, burglary, vandalism) are bad enough, but being directly confronted and harmed by the perpetrator is terrifying. Crimes aided or even provoked by negligent security include:
- Robbery with or without a weapon
- Rape or sexual assault
- Physical assault with or without a weapon
- Battery
- Stalking
- Harassment
- Carjacking
- Kidnapping
- Threats of physical violence
If you have been the victim of one of these crimes, you know only too well the terror of being in the control of someone malicious in an environment that offers you little or no protection.
Examples of Negligent Security Incidents In New Jersey
Far too many people are injured because of negligent security, including those who are followed to their cars at shopping center parking lots, robbed at ATM machines, assaulted in hotel rooms or corridors, attacked in the vestibules, stairways, empty corridors, bathrooms, elevators or garages of apartment complexes, office buildings, public schools, universities, or gas stations. If you have been the victim of such a crime, Nagel Rice’s dedicated attorneys will fight with skill and determination to win you the damages you deserve for medical and rehabilitation expenses, lost property, lost income (present and future), as well as pain and suffering, permanent disfigurement or disability and loss of enjoyment of life.
Steps That Should Have Been Taken To Protect You in New Jersey
The property owner whose negligence was partially responsible for the harm that came to you should have taken steps to make his or her property safe, such as:
- Doors that lock
- Emergency exits
- Phones or buzzers to call for emergency assistance
- An alarm system and/or video surveillance
- Adequate lighting
- Security guards
- Signs that warn of security devices or surveillance
Our premises liability attorneys will investigate which of the above methods of security could have helped to prevent your injuries. They may also be able to demonstrate that one or more installed security features were not working properly. Our lawyers will also assess the crime level in the area and establish whether any other crimes have occurred in or near the location in which you were attacked. If so, we have more evidence of the property owner’s negligence to us in a lawsuit.
Why We File Your Claim Against the Property Owner Rather Than the Criminal
Premises liability requires that all property owners, public and private, keep their property safe for those who visit it to socialize, deliver, shop, service, sell or solicit, and even, under certain circumstances, trespass. This means that if you have been injured in a criminal attack while on someone’s property, he or she may be held partially accountable. The reasons Nagel Rice’s attorneys will go after the property owner rather than the criminal include:
- The property owner will be easily located whereas the criminal may never be caught
- The property owner is likely to have insurance from which we can recover damages
- The property owner is far more likely to have sizeable assets on which we can draw
In order to win your case, we will work hard to prove that the property owner breached her or his duty to offer you reasonable security and that you were injured by a third party due to this negligence. In other words, we will fight vigorously to show that the property owner should have foreseen the potential for a crime such as the one in which you were injured. We will also use your medical records, and, if necessary, consultations with medical experts, to demonstrate that you suffered very real damages as a result of the property owner’s disregard for safety.
Contact Our New Jersey & New York Negligent Security Attorneys
If you have suffered serious injuries as the victim of a crime, you are undoubtedly overwhelmed by physical pain, emotional distress, and financial worries. Don’t let those responsible for your misery get away with it. Hopefully, law enforcement officers will track down the criminal and prosecute that individual to the full extent of the law, but you should not let the negligent property owner off the hook. Whether he or she was too stingy to invest in providing safety for innocent potential victims, was just thoughtless or non-compliant, that person has significantly contributed to your incapacity and loss of income and should be held responsible.
Contact Nagel Rice promptly so that we can begin strategizing the best way to approach your case and win you the compensation you need and deserve. We are committed to making sure you don’t get taken advantage of, and to providing you with compassionate advice and keen legal representation. And remember — Nagel Rice will charge you no attorneys’ fees until we win you damages.
Nagel Rice LLP helps its clients throughout New Jersey, including Roseland, Bergen County, Essex County, Middlesex County, Monmouth County, Morris County, Passaic County, and Sussex County. We also represent clients in New York throughout Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.