Woman Raped in Hotel Room by Intruder
After checking into a major hotel in the downtown area of a mid-western city, a young business woman walked to her room on an upper floor. As she was unlocking her door, a man who had been hiding in an alcove forced her into her room and raped her for several hours. There were video cameras aimed up and down the hallway but security personnel were not monitoring the cameras. The hotel managers knew there had been many reports of unauthorized men wandering around the hallways of the upper floors, yet took no additional precautions.
Customer Denied Entrance to Bullet Proof Cashier Booth: Shot to Death by Armed Robber
A regular customer of a service station/convenience store was pumping gas when he was approached by a man with a gun. The customer ran toward the store as the man fired several shots at him. The customer ran into the gas station and begged to be let into the bullet-proof area where the employees were located. The employees admitted they could have allowed the customer inside the booth where they would all have been safe. But the employees refused to allow the customer to enter and he was shot to death as he beat on the door. The business had been the scene of many previous violent crimes. No guards or other security measures were in place for the customers of the station, but the station had perfect security for the gas, the cigarettes and the junk food stored behind the bullet-proof glass.
Visitor to Apartment Complex Shot to Death in Robbery
On a trip to visit a friend in a large apartment complex, a man was shot to death in an apparent armed robbery as he walked through a breezeway. The killer had apparently been wandering around the complex for a long period of time and there had been many previous assaults and robberies on the property. The management knew that unauthorized intruders often came onto the property through a wooded area but failed to erect a fence or to hire a guard to patrol the dangerous premises. The apartment management company argued they had no legal obligation to protect their tenants or the tenants’ guests.
Bar Patron Kidnapped and Raped in Full View of Bar Owner
A woman stopped at a neighborhood bar for a drink before heading home. As she sat alone, several men approached her and dragged her out of the bar and down a stairwell at the end of the building. There, they raped her and left her bleeding and beaten. The owner of the bar locked his door after they drug her from the bar and failed to call the police or to intervene.
Apartment Tenant Kidnapped From Apartment Parking Lot and Raped After Management Failed to Close Security Gate to Lot
A woman was spending the night with her mother at the mother’s apartment building because heavy snow was forecast and the apartment building was quite near to the her job at a local hospital. She parked in the secure gated parking lot at the rear of the building. Unbeknownst to the nurse, the gate had been left open all night. The nurse believed the lot was under video surveillance but in fact the cameras had not worked properly for many years. She was attacked by an intruder as she walked to her car. The man beat her for several minutes before forcing her into her car and driving her to several remote locations where he raped her. The owners of the apartment building claimed there had been no prior crimes in the parking lot but investigation showed a number of car break-ins and armed robberies had taken place. These were never reported to the tenants. Indeed, management had destroyed documents from their records that would have disclosed the prior crimes. In addition, it was proved that even though the video cameras were aimed exactly at the spot where the abduction took place, the monitors showed nothing unusual because the lenses of the cameras were so damaged and out of focus for years.
New Tenant Raped by Men Who Had Prior Evicted Tenants’ Old Key – Apartment Had Assured the Woman They Had Changed the Locks to Her Apartment Before She Moved In
A single woman rented an apartment in a luxury complex in a suburban Midwest town. She specifically asked the managers if the locks to the apartment had been changed after the previous tenants had moved. Management assured the new tenant that the locks had been changed. After less than two weeks, the tenant awoke to find two men in her bedroom. They raped her, tied her up and then ripped the telephone from the wall. After their arrest, it was found that one of the two rapists had been a frequent guest of the prior tenant of the apartment. This rapist was a male prostitute who had often been hired to have sex with the previous male tenant. The rapists admitted they had entered the apartment with a key furnished them by the previous tenant. Management insisted the lock had, in fact, been changed. They argued that, by coincidence, the new lock accepted the same key as the old lock.
Restaurant Patron Kidnapped When Security Escort Was Absent From His Post
A woman went to a popular restaurant in a highly promoted entertainment in a major city to meet friends for dinner and drinks. The newly installed outside lighting system had been failing for weeks and the restaurant offered its customers a security escort service until the lighting problems could be corrected. When she was ready to leave, the woman customer could not find the escort, who was busy in another part of the restaurant. After waiting for more than 15 minutes, the woman decided to walk to her car. As she tried to unlock her door, she was dragged into a car by three men who raped her.
Guest Required to Park in Darkened Area of Motel Parking Lot – Kidnapped and Raped by Unknown Assailant
After registering late at night in a motel (part of a large national chain), a young sales woman was told she must park in the rear of the motel, even though the rear parking lot was dark and the front was well lit. The woman’s room was easily accessible by walking through the lobby, had she been permitted to park in front, near the entrance. The victim was kidnapped and raped by a truck driver who had been sitting in the darkened rear lot for more than one hour.
Developmentally Disabled Young Woman Left on School Bus at The End of The Bus Route – Repeatedly Raped in Abandoned Building When She Tried to Find Her Way Home
A young woman rode a school bus to a day program every day. On the way home one day, she fell asleep on the bus and the driver failed to check to see if anyone was left on the bus when he parked it for the night. The young woman waited for a period of time, and then attempted to walk home, having no idea where she was. She wandered into a dangerous part of town, where she was drug into a vacant building and repeatedly raped by more than one person. The bus company denied leaving her on the bus and argued we would not be able to prove our case since the victim was the only witness and was unable to communicate what had happened to her that day. Despite the bus company’s argument, we secured a substantial settlement to help take care of the girl for the rest of her life.
Young Woman Tenant of Large St. LOUIS Apartment Complex Murdered by Drug-Addicted Apartment Manager
A young woman was beaten to death with a hammer in her South St. Louis apartment. No forced entry was detected. Police had never arrested anyone for the murder until after our firm proved who had murdered our client’s sister. Our firm investigated the case, and filed suit against the apartment ownership, alleging it was the apartment manager who had murdered her. We argued he was the murderer because she had an illness that required pain medication and the manager was addicted to Oxycontin and went to steal her drugs. The case went to trial and since no one had ever been arrested for the murder, we had to prove the manager committed the murder and then had to prove the negligence of the complex for hiring the manager. We proved it was the apartment manager who had murdered our client’s sister and we uncovered other tenants who had come home to find the manager stealing their pain medications prior to the murder. We helped police uncover evidence in our trial (including the discovery of key pill vials of the victim found in the brush outside a stone quarry 60 miles from the murder scene) that led prosecutors to charge the manager with the murder one week after a jury returned a verdict in our client’s favor.
Young Man With Promising Future Shot to Death at Large Gang-Infested SAN DIEGO Apartment Complex While Visiting His Girlfriend
A 15 year old young man was hunted down and murdered when he went to visit his girlfriend in a 400 unit apartment complex in the City of San Diego. The family’s attorney called us to handle the case because of our experience in this area of the law. The murder drew incredible amounts of media attention state-wide because of the rise in gang violence in San Diego and because the young murder victim had a wonderful family and even more wonderful future. We filed suit against the apartment complex for failing to evict the gang member tenant who had terrorized the complex for several years with gang activity and who coordinated this senseless and tragic murder. Our lawyers traveled across the country to more than 4 states locating, interviewing and deposing key witnesses. We subpoenaed San Diego City attorneys involved in the case who testified that they had repeatedly warned the complex owners that their gang problem could be solved and that if they ignored it any longer, people would be hurt. We hired experts in the field of gang abatement, property management and crime reduction. Our professionalism and diligence in litigating this case against the apartment complex owners so inspired one of the attorneys representing the defendants, shortly after settling our case, he quit his defense firm and begin his own practice helping victims of violent crime. This lawyer has asked our assistance in helping him set up his practice to to better help crime victims as we have done for over 25 years.