How Can Negligent Security Lead to a Personal Injury Claim in New Jersey?

What is Negligent Security?

Negligent security falls under premises liability law. Premises liability is the legal theory used to hold a property owner or manager liable when their failure to provide a reasonably safe environment (including adequate security measures) leads to harm, such as a foreseeable criminal act that injures a visitor, tenant, or customer.

In New Jersey, property owners have a duty to protect lawful visitors from reasonably foreseeable criminal harm. This duty arises when a property owner has knowledge of previous criminal activity on the premises or in the immediate vicinity, making additional attacks predictable.

Examples of negligent security include:

• Inadequate lighting in parking lots or stairwells
• Broken or missing locks on doors and windows
• Failure to hire security guards in high-crime areas or places with a history of violence
• Broken or non-functioning surveillance cameras or alarms
• Poorly maintained fencing or perimeter access points

Essentially, negligent security occurs when a property owner knew or should have known about a risk of crime and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it.

How Can Negligent Security Lead to a Personal Injury Claim in NJ?

To successfully pursue a personal injury claim based on negligent security in New Jersey, an injured party must establish four key legal elements of negligence: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. Consider the following.

1. Duty of care: The plaintiff must first prove that the property owner owed them a legal duty of care. In NJ, this duty may exist between property owners and lawful visitors, landlords and tenants, etc.
2. Breach of duty: Next, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the property owner breached the duty of care by failing to provide reasonable security measures. This means showing that the owner’s security measures (or lack thereof) fell below the standard of care that a reasonably prudent property owner would use under similar circumstances.
3. Causation: The plaintiff must prove a direct link between the security breach and the resulting injury. They must show that if the property owner had fulfilled their duty, the criminal attack and injuries would likely not have occurred.
4. Damages: Finally, the plaintiff must show they suffered actual, measurable harm, such as physical injuries, medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, as a direct result of the attack that the negligent security allowed.

Successfully proving these elements allows the injured party to seek financial compensation from the negligent property owner. For more information and legal representation, reach out to an experienced attorney at Berliner, Cohen, Accardi & Grossman, LLC today.