Re: Can a Business be Sued for Failure to Prevent Robbery
It doesn't become loitering just because YOU want it to. If the business/employees didn't have a problem with the individual remaining inside their business, then there IS no problem, at least as far as police are going to be concerned. They have the absolute right to allow as many creepy people as they want to wander around their store.Quoting maritx219
You can make light of it but it is serious to me.
No one's making light of anything. Unfortunately, quite a few (if not most) of the volunteers here have BEEN victims of crime themselves, an arguable factor in why they are here to assist others in the first place.
Again, until the actual moment that the robbery occurred, there wasn't anything for police to do or respond TO.If the police were called I wouldnt have left until they arrived but since they werent I couldnt spend the night there either.
Ok. But this is a legal message board. You're asking a legal question, not a moral one. The legal answer is, as has been indicated; that the store had no responsiblity to summon police just because you thought another customer looked suspicious. Looking suspicious isn't unlawful, and if the business owner wanted to permit the customer to remain, even AFTER your protests, they have the ability to do so - even if police showed up. If you can prove that the employees knew or should have known that a robbery was imminent, by all means, bring a case against the store. There needs to be some circumstance that create liability for the business. Told them the guy had a gun? Mask sticking out of his back pocket? Heard him whispering about a robbery to someone else in the store? But it'll more than "weird feeling" - and a weird feeling that wasn't weird ENOUGH for you to do the prudent thing and leave (which is the exact point that the store's attorney is going to drive home to the jury - that neither you nor the store employees had ESP).Maybe he had no "legal" responsibility to make the call and I cant do anything about it but I can be angry. If nothing else we all have a moral responsibility to each other and if more people helped instead of turning the other cheek then maybe it wouldnt happen as much as it does.
The issue with cases like this isn't what could have been prevented. The legal issue that would be before the court in a third party liability case like this would center on two important factors; (1) whether a DUTY was established, and (2) whether that duty was breached. Both of these are taken in light of what a reasonable person would do under similar circumstances. The duty part comes into play when there is a CHRONIC disregard of things like security complaints (for example, if gangs of drug dealers habitually are allowed to congregate behind the building on the store's property, management has been made aware on more than one occasion, and no action has been taken). Note that a single incident of one customer who gives another customer the creeps doesn't get near that burden. On the breech side, convenience stores more than almost any other business, are intensely built around prevention and mitigation of robbery incidents - to the STORE. The lighting, cameras, ways the doors swing open, drop of the cash drawers, and many other minute details designed to curtail robbery to the store are everywhere. This case however, was about a robbery to YOU, inside the store. Which could have just as easily have happened outside the store, while sitting at a red light in traffic (great captive-audience victims totally off guard make for easy pickings), or in just about any other public place, whether inside a business or not. You are free to retain an attorney to try to make that jump for you - but sadly, the reality is that it would likely be little more than an expensive exercise in frustration. You can usually find at least one attorney to take such cases - they get paid whether they win or loose - so finding one willing to put in as many hours as you're willing to be billed for shouldn't be difficult.I didnt say the clerk caused what happened but could have prevented it.
Ok. Maybe he should have. Bad karma on him. Still doesn't lend itself to a successful legal action against the store - not under these circumstances. If you've got the time, money, and gumption to wage an unsuccessful legal action against the store - maybe hoping to pressure them into settling for a pittance just to get rid of you - you have the freedom to do so. It is unlikely to produce the emotional victory, satisfaction, or financial compensation, you're seeking. It MAY provide you with a sense of being able to do something about the incident after the fact, and if that alone will bring you some peace, then by all means pursue it. Just be realistic about the process, the burden of proof, the time and money involved, and the likely outcome (whether by settlement or trial).Also, I didnt say he could see into the future and knew it would happen but when I asked him to call the police he should have end of story.
Whether you believe in God or in evolution, or a combination of both, we have the gift of fear for a REASON (check out a book of the same name "Gift of Fear" by Gavin DeBecker, a leader in the field of personal safety and risk management - I highly recommend it). Be mindful of such feelings, and LISTEN to them. When people give you the creeps, walk out of the store. Take the next elevator. No one else's perceptions will ever be what yours are - and the only person you can force to act on your intuition is you . So be prepared to do so, and then ACTUALLY do so.
|
ExpertLaw Forum - Help With Your Legal Questions
|
Bookmarks