$600,000 federal court verdict – premises security injury – knee injury

Malls attract crime because people who go to malls make purchases and have money with them.  They are often large and there are parking lots, stores, walls, cars and other ways for criminals to hide and lay in wait.  This happened to our client Ethel Louise Hubbard.  Ms. Hubbard had just finished her shift at Sears at a large regional mall known a the Cutler Ridge Mall in South Dade County.  When she left the store she walked out toward her car, carrying her purse.  A man who was laying in wait grabbed her purse. In the course of this he knocked her down and dragged her through part of the mall’s parking lot.

John Leighton was hired to help this woman.  He filed a lawsuit against the mall owners and operators, which at the time were the largest operators of malls in America.  After contentious litigation and virtually no offer to settle, Mr. Leighton obtained a $600,000 verdict on behalf of this store clerk. Ms. Hubbard sustained knee injuries when a purse snatcher attempted to take her purse and dragged her to the ground. The mall operator was sued for for failing to have appropriate security personnel to deter the attack.  The mall claimed that they had several security guards at the mall at the time of the attack and that the robbery was not preventable. Leighton proved that while there was security on duty, on the day this woman was mugged there were not enough security guards at the mall. The week-long trial in federal court resulted in a verdict against the mall operator.  Hubbard v. DeBartolo, U.S. District Court, SD Fla.

 

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