Sexual Assault, Rape And Premises Liability

April 14, 2014 — by William Crossett

People who are the victims of rape and sexual assault can sue their attackers civilly. Civil lawsuits can be filed by a rape victims attorney at the same time as a criminal case. They may also be filed even if the perpetrator is not criminally charged. Civil cases require a lesser burden of proof than criminal matters, meaning the requirements for plaintiffs for proving their cases are lower. There are several different causes of action through which plaintiffs may sue under tort law.

Torts are wrongs committed by one person against another, allowing victims to seek civil remedies. Often, sexual assaults happen in apartments, motels, hotels or casinos that are owned by others. When victims do sue, only 3 percent of these types of civil cases go through judgments in the lower court. 97 percent of sexual assault civil cases reach settlements before trial. This means that if you have been a victim of rape or sexual assault, you can choose to sue. While it is possible a trial may be necessary, it is very unlikely that you will have to take your case to trial.

The Responsibility of Casinos and Hotels 

There are several benefits victims may receive through tort cases. Victims are the plaintiffs in civil cases and are able to make the major decisions involved in the litigation of their matters. As a victim, you will be able to decide whether or not you want to file a lawsuit. You will also be able to decide whether you want to go forward with your claim, try to reach a settlement of it or pursue it through trial. You will be able to be at the helm, directing how your litigation proceeds.

Under the law, casinos, hotels, landlords and others have the legal duty to use reasonable care in order to prevent sexual assaults that are foreseeable. In most cases, lawsuits filed against the attackers also name other parties as defendants to the action.

Businesses and Landlords May be Named as Defendants

When you file a lawsuit, you may be able to recover both monetary and non-monetary benefits. If your lawsuit is successful, you should receive a monetary judgment. Likewise, if you successfully settle your claim, you should also expect to receive money from the defendants. Defendants other than attackers in sexual assault and rape civil cases are called third-party defendants. They may include bus drivers, school administrators, placement agencies, hospitals, treatment centers, religious institutions, foster parents and many others, depending on where your case happened and who owed a duty of care to you.

Standard of Care

Under the law, different people who have control over different premises have a standard of care that they must follow. That standard will depend on the circumstances of your case. The standard of care refers to the degree of caution and prudence that a person with a duty of care has. The requirements will thus depend on the circumstances of what happened. The trier of fact decides whether the standard of care has been violated in terms of a reasonable person. This means that the defendant would need to have exercised the same amount of caution that a reasonable person would have used under similar circumstances.

Landlord Liability for Sexual Assaults

Landlords and landowners may hold liability to people who are lawfully present on their premises. This is what is known as “what is premise liability”, and it extends to other harms beyond rapes and assaults. Owners and landlords can be liable to you for injuries that you suffer because of various hazards that are present. For example, a landlord may be liable to you if you are injured because of broken pavement, standing water, open excavations, wet floors, falling objects, poor security, poor lighting, unclear parking lots, ice, unsecured mats and problems with benches or chairs.

Defenses that Are Sometimes Successfully Raised in Premises Liability Cases

When you hire a Phoenix premises liability lawyer, expect that your own conduct will be criticized. In order to be successful with their defenses, business owners or landlords are required to show that they have used reasonable care. Whether or not you were negligent may be an issue. You can expect that third-party defendants will try to show they used proper management procedures. In order to try to win, defendants will often try to compare their establishments with others in their industry. They will look at what others have done and try to show that the criminal action could not have been prevented even if they had used reasonable care.