Business Owner's Liability for Criminal Acts on Owner's Property

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Kristine Meredith

Are business owners or landlords responsible to those injured due to the criminal acts of third parties? Sometimes. Because of the “special relationship” a California business owner has with its customers, the owner or landlord must take reasonable steps to keep the premises safe against foreseeable criminal acts of others. In determining whether the owner must compensate the victim for his injuries, courts consider:

  • the type of crime committed
  • the type of commercial property (for example the owner of a parking garage will likely have a greater responsibility for safety than a business owner in a shopping center)
  • Whether the owner had notice of any previous criminal conduct
  • whether the owner had any reason to anticipate the type of criminal conduct that actually occurred
  • whether the owner could have discovered that criminal acts were being committed on the property
  • whether the owner has hired security guards
  • whether the security guard acted reasonably at the time of the criminal act
  • whether the criminal act occurred on property under the owner’s control
  • whether the owner had any formal security policies
  • whether the owner’s employees complied with the stated policy

Several of these factors relate to whether the owner had notice of prior criminal acts and how it responded to those acts. Unless a victim reports the criminal act to the property owner, the business owner or landlord may never learn of it, even if the police responded. To allow the owner an opportunity to correct the security issues before someone is hurt, it is important to always report security issues directly to the owner, and not just to law enforcement.  

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Jury Awards $2 Million to Golfer's Family

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Kristine Meredith

This week a San Diego jury found a golf course responsible for the death of a golfer who was killed after falling off an 80 foot cliff in a golf cart and awarded his family $2 million.  The golfer Edwin Payne tried to make a U-turn on the golf path but drove over a small inner curb, lost control of the cart on a slope veiled by trees, and eventually was catapulted over the cliff.  As discussed here, the property owner must  keep its property in a safe condition and warn of any unsafe conditions.The jury determined that the Pala Mesa golf course should have installed a higher curb and failed to warn him about the cliff behind the trees.  The award will be reduced by 30% because the jury assigned partial fault to Mr. Payne based upon the principle of comparative fault previously discussed here.

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Compensation for Injury on Another's Property

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Kristine Meredith

A property owner must keep his property in a reasonably safe condition. He must discover any unsafe conditions and repair, replace or warn of any condition he could expect to harm others. 

His reasonableness will be measured by the following factors:

  • Location of the property
  • Likelihood that someone would come on to the property as the victim did
  • Likelihood of harm
  • Probable seriousness of such harm
  • Whether he knew or should have known of the condition that created the risk of harm
  • Difficulty of protecting against the risk of such harm
  • Extent of his control over the condition that created the risk of harm.

But if the city, state or the federal government owns the property, then the rules are different and getting compensation for an injury is more difficult.
 

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