Can I Sue a Hotel for Negligent Security?

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Negligent Security in Hotels

Florida’s premises liability laws protect people from being injured while they are guests at a property. If you sustain an injury under circumstances in which you were owed a duty of care by the hotel owner, then you can sue the hotel to recover your damages. This applies to hotel security, among other aspects of hotel operations.

Hotel Owners Are Bound by a “Duty of Care”

Florida law defines a “duty of care” that hotel and motel owners owe people who visit their properties. Chapter 509 of the Florida statutes establishes that hotels are public lodging establishments and are required to uphold reasonable measures to keep their visitors free from harm or injury.

Under this duty of care, a hotel owner must keep the hotel reasonably safe and correct dangerous conditions. They must also warn visitors of dangers the owner knows about or should know about, and which visitors do not know about and should not reasonably be expected to know about.

When hotel owners fail to uphold their duty of care, and a visitor suffers an injury as a result of this breach of duty, the visitor can sue the hotel for the losses they have incurred from their negligent security injuries.

Security is just one of many areas of hotel operations that a hotel owner must handle effectively in order to protect their guests from harm.

Legal Classifications of Hotel Injury Victims

Under Florida’s premises liability laws, a hotel visitor is classified according to the reason they are present on the property. The duty of care that the visitor is owed by the hotel owner depends upon how the visitor is classified. For more help contact a Florida premises liability lawyer.

Hotel trespassers and uninvited licensees (like people who drop in to use the restroom) are owed no duty from the hotel owner other than the owner’s duty to refrain from “willful or wanton injury” toward the trespasser. The owner is not bound to protect these property visitors against foreseeable third-party crimes.

On the other hand, a hotel owner has a marked duty to protect its guests, who would be considered public invitees of the property, from reasonably foreseeable third-party crime. Similar duty of protection extends to business invitees and licensees by invitation (social guests).

Hotel Guests Qualify Are Owed the Highest Duty of Care by Hotel Owners

If you were the guest at a hotel, you are classified as a public invitee of the property because you had an “objectively reasonable belief” that you were “welcome on that portion of the real property where injury” occurred. Under this classification, the hotel owner owed you the highest possible duty of care. This means that you can hold the hotel owner liable for injuries you sustain while a guest at the hotel, including injuries sustained as the result of negligent security. If you want to pursue justice against the property owner for your injuries and pain and suffering, call a Fort Lauderdale negligent security attorney from the Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato at (954) 633-8270 today.

Ways in Which Hotel Security Might Be Deemed Negligent

When a hotel or motel faces tough times financially, a common area where they consider cutting the budget is security. This opens guests up to the possibility of becoming victims of many sorts of crime: sexual assault, shootings, rape, robbery, battery—perhaps even murder.

Although there are steps you, as a guest, can take to reduce your chances of becoming a victim of crime while staying at a hotel, the hotel owner is ultimately responsible for your safety in this regard.