Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
A string of South Florida shootings that made headlines over the weekend raise alarms about safety and security at grocery stores and shopping centers.
The first of the three shootings took place in a Pembroke Pines shopping plaza Saturday morning. It began with a verbal argument at the Pembroke Gardens shopping plaza and ended with gunfire, according to local media reporting. When police arrived, they found one man who had been shot. His injuries were non-life-threatening, according to previous reporting.
The investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made.
At least two people were injured in the second shooting, which took place during an alleged carjacking at an Aldi grocery store in Miramar. This incident happened Saturday afternoon in which two men were shot and taken to a local hospital while another was confirmed to have been involved.
The investigation is ongoing.
Negligent Security
In Florida, negligent security cases are those in which a property owner and/or management company didn’t do enough to keep their property reasonably safe from criminal activity, and as a result, someone got hurt. These cases involve physical attacks, robberies or other assaults at places such as apartments, nightclubs, shopping centers or hotels.
Under general premises liability principles, property owners do not have a duty to prevent all third-party crimes, however, Florida law does impose a duty to take reasonable security measures when the risk of criminal activity is foreseeable. For example, a
Final Weekend Incident in Florida
The third shooting involved deputies with the Broward County Sheriff’s office following a neighborhood incident Sunday afternoon. In that instance, police were called out to the 4000 block of Southwest 26th Street in West Park for “suspicious activity involving a weapon,” according to The Miami Herald, just before 12:30 p.m. In the chaos, a man allegedly punched a deputy in the face and was shot. The man was taken to a local hospital as well as the deputy who was punched.
The deputies who fired their weapons were placed on administrative assignment. The investigation into this incident is ongoing.
No names or other identifiers have been released. The condition of the man who was shot was not immediately available.
While details of this incident are still being released, it does not appear to be a negligent security case. However, that does not mean the injured party is barred from seeking damages. Depending on the facts of the case, the plaintiff may pursue various civil claims, including negligence and vicarious liability.
A negligence claim could be brought up in court if, for example, the deputy used unreasonable or excessive force, such as mistaking the plaintiff for a threat without sufficient justification.
Vicarious liability — holding the involved police agency responsible for the officer’s actions — may apply if it is shown that the officer was acting within the course and scope of employment. Under Florida law, government agencies can be held liable for the negligent acts of their employees performed within the scope of their duties, subject to certain limitations and damage caps.
Leesfield & Partners previously secured a six-figure amount for a grieving family in a police-involved, wrongful death shooting.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a personal injury law firm with nearly five decades of practice in cases of inadequate or negligent security, medical malpractice, cruise ship litigation and motor vehicle accidents. Our skilled attorneys have developed cutting edge trial techniques and approach every case with the tenacity, experience and compassion necessary to achieve the best possible outcome for injured clients and grieving families. Our attorneys have handled negligent security cases involving sexual assaults, shootings and other violent criminal activity. These cases have take place at hotels, college campuses, banks, shopping centers, supermarkets and other locations.
In Florida, negligent security cases typically arise when a person is injured or killed due to a foreseeable criminal act by a third party on someone else’s property. The victim, or their grieving families, may bring a civil lawsuit for damages against the property owner, landlord or property management company responsible for maintaining the premises. As stated above, property owners are held liable when reasonable security measures are not taken to prevent foreseeable crimes. This foreseeability is often established by evidence such as prior similar incidents, crime statistics in the area, or the nature of the business (e.g., late-night convenience stores or apartment complexes with known security issues).
Therefore, property owners and operators may be held liable if they failed to provide adequate security measures, such as lighting, surveillance, security personnel, or locks, when it was reasonably foreseeable that a crime could occur.
For example, Leesfield & Partners previously represented a couple that was viciously attacked by a crazed individual while guests at a South Florida hotel. This case was handled by Justin B. Shapiro and resulted in a $16 million recovery after the hotel refused to follow the advice of police and a private security company to hire armed guards to patrol the property. This decision, made to cut corners, all but ensured the brutal beating and sexual assault suffered by our clients.
In this case, the hotel had a known history of violence and criminal activity. Despite this history, no armed security guards were hired that could have prevented this incident. Instead, a crazed individual was allowed to enter the property without being questioned. He traveled up the elevator to our clients’ floor where he launched a physical assault on the husband before turning to the wife. He raped, beat and sexually assaulted this woman. At least some of the horrific ordeal she suffered was witnessed by hotel employees and security at the property. Neither of these employees stepped in to intervene or stop the violence.
“The defendants knowingly and willfully maintained grossly inadequate security measures by refusing to follow security recommendations from both their own private security contractor and the Miami-Dade Police Department to have multiple armed guards at the hotel at all times,” Mr. Shapiro said of the case.
Leesfield & Partners’ Negligent Security Cases
Bernardo Pimentel II, a Leesfield & Partners Trial Lawyer, is handling an ongoing case in which two officers were injured following a shooting at a popular Doral bar. Both officers have suffered tremendous emotional scars from the harrowing incident and one was wounded from the gunfire.
Mr. Pimentel is also handling a video voyeurism case that took place on a cruise ship. In that instance, a member of the crew abused his employee status and entered the cabins of various passengers to plant hidden cameras in their bathrooms. This crewmember captured footage of multiple passengers and their children, including our client.
He was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for his crimes, however, Mr. Pimentel said in an interview with reporters, that does not hold the cruise line accountable.
“Terminating the employee is not enough,” he said. “That does not stop this from occurring in the future.”
In a different cruise ship negligent security case a crewmember similarly entered a passenger’s cabin using an employee keycard before launching a violent rape and sexual assault. Leesfield & Partners secured a multi-million-dollar recovery for the woman in that case.
Evan Robinson, a Trial Lawyer at the firm, recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a family and their minor daughter after a sexual assault at a local L.A. Fitness. The girl in that case was exercising with friends when she was stalked, harassed, assaulted and terrorized by an adult gym-goer.
This man was known by the gym for having violent outbursts in the past and nothing was done to restrict or deny him access to the property. Compounding matters, other gym members reported seeing this man following our 14-year-old client throughout the property, and employees admitted to seeing this man following her — yet they did nothing to intervene.
“When businesses ignore clear warning signs about dangerous individuals, it puts everyone at risk,” Mr. Robinson said. “This case is about making sure companies take responsibility and put people’s safety first — so what happened to our client doesn’t happen to someone else.”
That case is ongoing.
Previous Cases
Previously, Leesfield & Partners secured a historic result in Monroe County after a woman was brutally attacked with a hammer at a Key West hotel. In this case, a man who was not a guest was allowed to enter a parking garage on the property. He roamed around for about 20 minutes without being questioned by security until he ran into our client and launched his violent attack.
Leesfield & Partners secured over $40 million for the woman in that case.
The firm secured a $15 million in a negligent security case at an apartment complex that tragically resulted in the wrongful death of our client’s loved one.
In a confidential negligent security case handled by the firm, our attorneys obtained a $3.25 million recovery amount for our injured client.
The firm also handled the case of a client who was shot at an unguarded ATM. The client in that case became paralyzed as a result. The firm secured $3 million for the injured client.
For a store employee who was raped and robbed at a Florida shopping mall, Leesfield & Partners secured $1.13 million.
A woman working as a maid at a Monroe County hotel was raped by a man who was allowed to be on the property despite the fact that he was not a guest. The man was left alone, allowing him to sleep by the pool and use drugs. He was not approached by security or any of the other staff at the hotel and was allowed to roam the property for hours before he entered a room that our client was cleaning and attacked her.
The firm secured a $1 million settlement in that case.
The firm also has a history of protecting children and, in addition to litigating personal injury cases involving minors, the firm regularly contributes to local charities focusing on children’s issues. Through The Leesfield Family Foundation, the charitable foundation of Ira Leesfield, his wife, Cynthia, and their daughter, Jennifer, numerous organizations dedicated to child sex abuse prevention are supported annually.
Leesfield & Partners recently secured confidential settlements for four individuals who were abused as children by a member of the clergy at their parochial primary and middle schools. As a result of the abuse, these individuals suffered significant trauma that followed them into adulthood, affecting every aspect of their lives.
The firm secured an $8.6 million recovery for a camper abused by a counselor at a well-known Florida summer camp. Camp officials failed to recognize the obvious signs of the counselor’s disturbed behavior, allowing this individual continued access to the children in their care.
A prestigious Florida high school was held accountable when they were made to pay several multi-million-dollar reparations thanks to the work of Leesfield & Partners. The perpetrator in that case was a teacher at the school who was a serial sexual abuser and targeted multiple students at the school.
A confidential settlement was obtained by Leesfield & Partners on behalf of a child who was sexually abused while traveling with an airline. The child was flying as an unaccompanied minor and was meant to be under the watch of flight attendants. During the flight, the child was sexually abused by another passenger.
The firm previously recovered $650,000 for a child who was sexually abused at a youth center.
