Atlantic City Negligent Security Lawyer
Atlantic City’s casinos, restaurants, and tourist attractions draw patrons from far and wide. Unfortunately, they sometimes also serve as a magnet for a criminal element intent on harming Atlantic City residents, workers, and visitors.
Local businesses and property owners know all about those potential risks and have a responsibility to take reasonable security precautions to keep the public safe on their premises. Those who don’t face potential liability to anyone who suffers harm as a result.
The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers represents individuals who suffered injuries and losses in Atlantic City because of a business or property owner’s negligence security practices. Contact us today to learn how we can help you secure compensation for the harm you suffered because a business or property owner in Atlantic City failed to keep you safe.
About Us
Since 2005, The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers has fought on behalf of South Jersey and Southeast Pennsylvania clients to get them the money they deserve for injuries caused by someone else’s intentional or negligent misconduct.
Over the years, we have earned a reputation among our clients as a team of caring, responsive, and hard-working legal professionals who know how to get results. We have achieved top-dollar settlements and jury verdicts in a wide range of personal injury matters, including cases involving negligent security.
We can’t guarantee results, of course. But we can give our clients the peace of mind of knowing they have skilled, dedicated, respected lawyers on their side, fighting for justice and maximum compensation in-and-out of Atlantic City area courts.
What You Need to Know About Negligent Security
Victims of crime in Atlantic City and elsewhere often do not realize that they may have the right to sue for damages. Even if the thought crosses their mind, they assume that would mean suing the perpetrator, which is rarely a realistic option.
But in fact, crime victims in AC have more rights and options than they may imagine, because of the legal concept of negligent security. Property and business owners who know of (or should know of) potential security risks on their premises must take reasonable security measures to keep the public safe. If they fail to take those steps, and someone falls victim to a crime as a result, their negligent security practices can make them liable to the victim for money damages.
Or to put it more simply, if you are a crime victim in Atlantic City, you may have the right to sue the owner or operator of the property where the crime occurred, if that owner/operator could have and should have taken steps to prevent the crime from happening.
This includes crimes such as:
- Assault
- Battery
- Rape and sexual assault
- Unknowing consumption of incapacitating drugs (a.k.a., getting “roofied”)
- Stalking and intimidation
- Human trafficking
- Robbery
- Carjacking
- Kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment
- Cons and swindles
Examples of negligent security practices that can lead to Atlantic City residents, workers, and visitors falling victim to crime, and to liability for property and business owners, include:
- Broken or malfunctioning door locks that allow an assailant to gain access to a hotel room;
- Poor lighting in areas where a criminal could take advantage, such as in stairwells, hotel corridors, or parking lots;
- Insufficient or careless security staffing, such as a lack of bouncers at a bar or nightclub, or security guards who fail to evaluate or respond to potential threats;
- Inattentive employees, such as bartenders or front desk personnel who fail to alert authorities to suspicious persons or allow dangerous practices to go unaddressed;
- Lack of reasonable or working security equipment, such as missing fencing, inoperative security cameras, or alarm systems that don’t work.
These are just some examples. Anytime a crime occurs in Atlantic City, and the property owner could have and should have taken reasonable steps to prevent it, that property owner may have a legal liability to the crime victim, and The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers may be able to get compensation for that victim.
Potential Compensation in a Negligent Security Case
Compensation for the harm suffered because of negligent security can help victims pay for a wide range of injuries and losses. Every case is different, of course, so there’s no fixed amount a victim might receive.
But in general, taking legal action against a business or property owner because of negligent security can get a crime victim financial compensation for:
- Medical expenses associated with treating the victim’s physical and emotional injuries, including costs of emergency care, hospitalization, rehabilitation, physical and emotional therapy, and medication.
- Other expenses the victim wouldn’t have had, if the crime and injuries hadn’t occurred, such as costs of hiring extra help with day-to-day needs like childcare or cooking and cleaning, or of replacing personal property damaged or lost in the crime.
- Lost wages the victim did not earn because injuries kept the victim out of work for a long time.
- Lost future income the victim will not earn, or have the opportunity to earn, because of the effects of the injury they suffered.
- Physical pain, emotional suffering, and loss of quality of life caused by being the victim of a crime and/or by the injuries the victim suffered in it, including the impact on the victim’s personal and intimate relationships, and on the victim’s ability to enjoy life.
- Punitive damages, which New Jersey courts may award when negligent security amounts to “actual malice” or is “accompanied by a wanton and willful disregard” for the victim.
As we said, there’s no guarantee that an Atlantic City crime victim can recover all, or even any, of these categories of financial damages. But they can give themselves the best shot at that compensation by hiring an experienced Atlantic City negligent security injury lawyer, like the team at The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers.
Atlantic City Workers and Negligent Security
It’s not just business patrons and property visitors who may have a right to compensation for a business or property owner’s negligent security practices. Workers on those premises may also have the right to compensation if their employer or landlord failed to take reasonable steps to keep them safe.
Typically, workers’ rights to compensation begin with seeking payment from workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation (also called “workers’ comp”) is a form of no-fault insurance that most New Jersey employers must purchase for their employees’ benefit. It covers employees against most injuries and illnesses they suffer in connection with their employment, without regard to who is at fault for that harm.
Workers’ comp benefits typically include payment of medical expenses and replacement of some or all of the workers’ wages. The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers represents injured workers in seeking the maximum benefits available under workers’ comp, and in fighting back when workers’ comp insurance companies deny their valid claims.
Sometimes, Atlantic City workers who suffer harm because of negligent security may also have the right to sue for damages. They generally cannot sue their employers (workers’ comp takes the place of employers’ liability), but they may have the option of holding third parties (someone other than their employer or co-workers) liable for the harm they suffered. For example, if a security guard contractor provides the security at a worker’s place of employment, the worker could have the right to sue that contractor if its failures lead to the worker getting hurt in a crime.
At The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers, we investigate the cases of all workers we represent, to figure out if they have rights to sue in addition to their rights to receive workers’ comp benefits. If you fell victim to a crime while working at any business or property in Atlantic City, contact our team to learn about your rights and options.
If Negligent Security Harms You or a Loved One
The trauma of suffering injuries and losses in a crime facilitated by negligent security can make it difficult for the victim and victim’s loved ones to know how to protect their interests.
Every case is different, but Atlantic crime City victims and their families can often put themselves in a good position to secure financial compensation by following these tips.
#1. Seek Medical Help Immediately
Your first priority in any situation where you have (or may have) suffered injuries is to seek medical attention. Call 911, or go immediately to a hospital emergency room or an urgent care clinic to treat your known injuries and to get an evaluation of any other injuries you might not realize you suffered.
Prompt medical care helps you in two important ways. First and most importantly, it protects your health and wellbeing. Second, it protects your legal rights by ensuring that you have complete and timely medical records of your injuries, which a lawyer can use to prove your case for damages.
#2. Report the Crime Immediately
Second-only to seeking medical care, it’s also critically important to report the crime or incident that caused your injury immediately to the authorities. In most instances, that will be the Atlantic City Police.
If possible, do not rely on others to report the crime for you. Instead, do it directly. For example, a casino hotel’s security staff may volunteer to interact with the police on your behalf. You may have no choice but to let them, but beware that they may have their own agenda (i.e., protecting their employers’ interests) that has nothing to do with getting justice for you. So again, if at all possible, report the crime or incident yourself, or have a trusted eyewitness (such as a family member) do it.
Reporting your crime immediately serves several important purposes. It gives authorities the best possible opportunity to apprehend the perpetrator, which both serves to get you some justice and protects others from the same criminal. As with going to the doctor, it also creates records documenting the time, nature, location, and other information about the crime. Those records can serve as useful evidence for your attorney to use in investigating the role negligent security may have played in the crime.
Finally, reporting the crime to authorities immediately serves the important purpose of putting the business or property owner on notice of what happened. This can help prevent them from denying that they have a negligent security problem, and it protects others from potential victimization in the future.
#3. Do Not Accept Freebies, In-Kind Compensation, or Quick Settlements
Atlantic City businesses and property owners don’t want to get a dangerous reputation. You can expect most of them to go out-of-their-way to try to “make it right” with you, their guest, when you get hurt on their premises. That may include offering you free meals, room stays, or even a quick cash payment.
Those are understandable gestures and may reflect good customer service. But they’re also potentially harmful to your legal rights. Accepting payments of any kind whether cash or freebies could look like you accepted a settlement of your negligent security claim. And no matter what business and property owners offer, you can be virtually certain its value won’t come close to the amount of money a skilled negligent security attorney can get you through legal channels.
Better to say “no, thanks” to quick offers from business and property owners, rather than risk your far-more-valuable legal rights.
#4. Contact a Negligent Security Injury Lawyer Right Away
Finally, do not delay in contacting a skilled Atlantic City negligent security injury lawyer. You may have only limited time to take legal action to secure the evidence you need to make the case for the compensation you deserve. The sooner you connect with an attorney, the better your odds of obtaining maximum financial
compensation for your injuries and losses.
Experienced Atlantic City Negligent Security Injury Lawyers
As the victim of an injury or loss caused by negligent security at a business or property in Atlantic City, you may have the right to significant financial compensation.
Don’t wait to speak with a lawyer who knows how to get it. Contact The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers today at (609) 250-2800 for a free consultation with a member of our experienced negligent security injury team.
The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers | Atlantic City Office
2 Convention Blvd, Atlantic City, NJ 08401
Local: 609.250.2800
Toll-Free: 877.825.8542