BAR ASSAULTS AND LIABILITY

OVERVIEW OF NEGLIGENT SECURITY CLAIMS

Bars  have an obligation to use reasonable care to protect those lawfully on their premises.    Their responsibility includes not only their own employees, but reasonable safeguards against the acts of third parties.  As put by the New Jersey Model Jury Charge.  The owner/operator of of a store, restaurant or office owes a duty of reasonable care to its customers and patrons to provide a reasonably safe place to shop, conduct business, and enter or exit the building.   The duty owed requires the owner/operator of a store, restaurant,  or office to exercise ordinary care to protect people using the premises, . customers, patrons, from potential injury inflicted by individuals that the owner/operator could have reasonably foreseen might be present on the premises. NJ Jury charge  

FORESEEABILITY OF THE RISK

The bar owner only protect against foreseeable risks.  It is a duty to take steps that are reasonable and prudent and several components come into play.   The Jury Charge mentions these factors: "When determining whether or not criminal activity on defendant’s property was reasonably foreseeable, you may consider the following factors: prior criminal acts that occurred on or around defendant’s property even if not as bad as the one committed against the plaintiff; the property’s size and location; the absence of adequate security; the architectural design of the building in relation to the area where the crime occurred (for example: the size of the parking lot); the type of business defendant operates; the nature and circumstances of nearby businesses; and the increasing level of crime in the general neighborhood."  NJ Jury charge  

It may not have a duty to intervene immediately; courts have found for defendant where the assault was quick.

New York Standard

New York courts have articulately the owner's duty more narrowly.  A landowner has a legal duty to take minimal precautions to protect members of the public from reasonably foreseeable criminal acts by third parties (Leyva v Riverbay Corp., 206 AD2d 150, 152).   The landlord has no duty to safeguard tenants from neighborhood crime as such.   The duty to protect against criminal intruders only arises when ambient crime has seriously infiltrated the premises or when the landlord is on notice of a serious risk of such infiltration (Todorovich v Columbia University, 245 AD2d 45, 46, lv denied 92 NY2d 805).  Defendants had no general duty to protect tenants or other members of the public from criminal activity on the sidewalk outside their building (Rodriguez v Oak Point Management, 87 NY2d 931, 932).
 

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF THIS LAW OFFICE

Howard A. Gutman has been handling personal injury claims and other types of litigation for over 15 years.   Prior to establishing his practice, Mr. Gutman was employed by one of the leading law firms in New Jersey and a prominent international law firm located in the Wall Street area.  He has appeared on Good Day New Jersey been interviewed by NBC Nightly News and Newsday, and his cases have been profiled in the Star Ledger, Bureau of National Affairs Magazine, and New York Times.

HOW DO I CONTACT YOU

Law Offices of Howard A. Gutman,
230 Route 206 (near Routes 80 and 46)
Mount Olive, New Jersey 07836 Directions to our office
(973) 598-1980,
E-mail Howian@aol.com Fax (973)209-4091

New York Office
305 Madison Avenue, Suite 449
New York, New York 10165 (212) 886-4838 (please call our NJ office for initial consultations)

FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION  

We offer a free initial telephone consultation to discuss your case. Please feel free to call or e-mail our office.

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