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Undisclosed Plaintiffs v. Undisclosed Defendants – Assault

Type of Action:Negligent Security Case

Injuries Alleged:Assault

Name of Case:Undisclosed Plaintiffs v. Undisclosed Defendants

Court:Jackson County, Missouri

Case No.:0716-CV04179

Name of Judge:Thomas Clark

Special Damages:$4,131.19

Settlement Amount:$125,000.00

Date of Settlement:February 15, 2008

Plaintiffs’ Experts:J.R. Roberts; Security Expert; Savannah, Georgia

Defendant’s Experts:Not disclosed

Attorneys for Plaintiffs:Sylvester James, Jr. and Scott Shachtman with the Sly Firm in Kansas City, Missouri and Jason Rew and Kim Roam with Cochran, Oswald & Roam in Blue Springs

Attorneys for Defendants:John Waldeck and Meagan Patterson with Waldeck, Mateuzzi and Sloan in Leawood, Kansas and Michael Childs and Michael Townsend with Brown & James, PC in Kansas City, Missouri

Description of the case:On December 22, 2005, the Plaintiff, a 53 year old female drove into a parking garage at an outdoor shopping mall in the greater Kansas City area to meet her friend for an early Christmas lunch. The Plaintiff entered the parking garage at approximately 10:56 a.m. At the entrance to the garage, there was a sign representing to all customers that the garage was under video surveillance and that it was patrolled by security. However, security was not present when the Plaintiff drove into the garage and had not been in the garage since 10:07 a.m. that morning.

Plaintiff parked her vehicle in a spot located near the entrance. Although there was an emergency call box within 50 feet or so of where she parked her car, it was very difficult to see it and it was not working on the day of this incident.

As Plaintiff began walking away from her vehicle, a large white SUV parked behind her and a man got out of the passenger side. The man yelled at Plaintiff “give me your bag”. Not fully understanding exactly what was going on, Plaintiff responded “excuse me” and a struggle ensued. The man grabbed Plaintiff’s bag and repeatedly struck her over the head with the butt of his handgun. Ultimately, the man escaped with Plaintiff’s purse and Plaintiff suffered lacerations to her head, which required stapling at the emergency room.

The Plaintiffs argued that defendants negligently failed to provide reasonable security in the parking garage. Although Defendants knew that the emergency call box near the Plaintiff’s car was not functioning before this assault, they did absolutely nothing to remedy the situation. The defendants, instead, chose to argue that the Plaintiff was somehow at fault for defending herself.