The duty of a landowner to protect its patrons from foreseeable criminal attack extends to both the specific location of the business, as well as the surrounding area, when the landowner knows, or has reason to know that its patrons use off-site premises to patronize the owner’s business. Moreover, when assessing the foreseeability of crime, the lawyer as well as the security expert or criminologist, will evaluate the status of crime both on property (“criminality of place”) as well as crime off property, but in the adjacent area. All of these issues factor into the preventability of crime.
On–Site Injury or Death
When considering liability for on-site injury or death that occurs on a specific property, the key consideration in who has responsibility is the question of who has the right to possession or control. Sometimes, that right can be exclusive, such as when a landowner runs a business from his own property, or when the landowner relinquishes entire control over the property and the business to a lessee. However, when the landowner retains a certain degree of control over the premises, specifically, or over the operation of the lessee’s business, then, under those circumstances, the landowner may very well be deemed to have concurrent control over the property. Under those circumstances, both the landowner and the lessee may have responsibility for the safety and security of the premises.
Off-Site Injury or Death
It is well established in Florida law that a landowner can also be held responsible for criminal activity which causes harm to its business invitees, even when the criminal activity occurs away from the specific property which the landowner has under its specific control. This is the case, for example, where a landowner knows that his patrons use adjoining property to park their vehicles, or use such land to walk or travel over the property to reach that belonging to the landowner.
Moreover, even when the landowner knows that its patrons use adjoining property for recreation, or the like, that landowner may conceivably be responsible to make sure that the off-site premises is reasonably safe for its patrons. This is particularly the case when the landowner advertises the benefits of the adjoining property as a lure to attract patrons to its own business. Under these circumstances, the scope of responsibility for the landowner, to take reasonable care to make sure that not only its property, but also that of other, adjoining landowners, may be very broad.
To learn more about negligent security case locations and surrounding areas, please contact the Florida law experts Corless Associates at 877-517-5595.
