Just like any other business or residential building that invites lawful visitors onto privately owned property, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are expected to ensure every patient and employee is reasonably safe from criminal activity. Any facility owner who fails to provide a basic level of security may be civilly liable for any harm that someone sustains due to violent unlawful actions while inside the facility or on affiliated property.
Negligent health facility security claims in Orlando exist at an intersection between a few different types of civil cases, which can make it challenging to pursue by yourself. If you want to protect your rights and demand compensation after being harmed by criminal activity inside a hospital, seeking help from an experienced negligent security attorney is necessary.
Negligent security litigation primarily falls under the purview of premises liability law, which allows people injured by unreasonably dangerous property conditions to file suit against an owner or manager whose negligence allowed those conditions to exist. However, what counts as “negligence” in a claim like this can vary significantly based on the circumstances. The specific things a plaintiff must prove to establish negligence are different from the components of traditional negligence in other personal injury cases.
The first step to an injured person achieving a successful result from a negligent health facility security claim in Orlando is proving they were lawfully on the property in question. Landowners in Florida generally have no legal duty to protect trespassers from dangerous property conditions. Next, the plaintiff must show that the landowner was aware of, or reasonably should have foreseen, a danger of certain criminal activity on their land. This awareness is based on factors like a history of similar crimes in the area or similar incidents at other healthcare facilities.
Then, the plaintiff must show that, with this knowledge in mind, the facility owner or manager did not take reasonable measures to minimize the risk that such criminal activity would occur on their property and cause harm to visitors. Finally, there must be a direct and causal link between the criminal act and the damages the plaintiff is demanding restitution for.
A successful negligent security claim against an Orlando healthcare facility could demand compensation for every physical, financial, and personal form of harm the criminal act caused. This includes both past and future damages relative to when litigation actually proceeds. Damages commonly factored into cases like this include:
However, it is crucial to have as much documentation as possible of the specific effects an incident had. This documentation can include medical records, pay stubs, or even contemporaneous journal entries that detail how the incident affected a plaintiff’s mental and emotional state. Guidance from skilled legal counsel could be a huge help in identifying, collecting, preserving, and presenting relevant information.
Anyone who suffers harm due to someone else’s criminal behavior inside a healthcare facility may have standing to pursue a civil claim against facility management or owners for their failure to ensure the safety of lawful visitors. Even if it seems obvious who bears fault for your specific incident, proving fault during a lawsuit or in private settlement negotiations can be almost impossible without professional legal support.
The assistance you might need with negligent health facility security claims in Orlando is available from the Umansky Law Firm. Call today for a consultation.
The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys
