Whether someone’s talking about a shut-down factory, a swimming pool, a condemned house, a rugged trail at a nature preserve, or ramps at a skate park, each of these places may pose injury dangers to those who visit them. Most property owners have a duty of care to keep their premises reasonably safe to minimize the chances of someone getting hurt. However, their responsibility to do so generally varies, depending on why the injured individual was present on the property.   

When you’ve suffered injuries while visiting someone else’s property, you may be hopeful that you can recover your medical costs and other incident-related losses from its owner. However, you’ll need to have a firm understanding of what is an adequate warning from a property owner and its impact before determining whether recovery of compensation is possible. 

When a customer is attacked or assaulted and injured at a bar, shopping mall, or other public space they may have a case not only against the attacker, but also against the business owner or commercial real estate management company. Under Arkansas law, certain commercial property owners and businesses owners owe a customer a duty to protect them from reasonably foreseeable dangers, including criminal acts. These types of cases, commonly referred to as negligent security cases, can stem from fights, shootings, or even sexual assaults at places such as bars and restaurants, shopping malls, convenience stores, or strip shopping centers.  

Owners, business operators and their security contractors can be found at fault and responsible when the cause of a harmful event, such as an assault, stabbing or shooting, is foreseeable or avoidable with proper safety procedures. What makes a particular act foreseeable under Arkansas law depends on what other types of attacks, shootings, stabbings, or other criminal acts have occurred on or near the business or property before the customer suffers injury. Shopping malls and common areas in and around businesses are public spaces that people should be able to enjoy their shopping experience without suffering from violent attack. McMath Woods has handled these types of cases and understands how stressful these situations can be on families and how complex these cases can be legally.