$600,000 verdict in U.S. District Court – premises liability – knee injury

John Elliott Leighton won a $600,000 verdict on behalf of a Sears store clerk who was injured in the parking lot of a large regional mall in Florida.  The woman sustained knee injuries when a mugger attempted to take her purse and, in the process, dragged her to the ground. The mall management company was sued for a lack of security and failure to follow its own policies and procedures. 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 trial in federal court resulted in a verdict against the mall operator.  Hubbard v. DeBartolo, U.S. District Court, SD Fla.

This case is an example of inadequate security at a major regional mall.  Despite the mall management’s claim that there were security guards on duty, there were not enough to effectively provide security at this large shopping center.  Criminals are rational and opportunistic. The way to deter crime is to have a reasonable show of security so that they can be seen and are visible.  In this case the lack of security made it unlikely that security would be seen, and the criminal reasonably saw an easy target with no deterrence.

 

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