By: Samantha M. Spinelli, Esq.

Imagine you’re on vacation and staying at a nice hotel—a famous international chain. Also, imagine that also staying at your hotel are rowdy college kids who have been drinking all weekend.  While out at the pool, one of these college students unexpectedly starts an argument with you. You do your best to de-escalate the situation. You’re there with your kids and you don’t want to cause a scene—or embarrass your family. Yet, there is nothing you can do. The hotel has no security there.  This guy is looking for a fight. You walk away and the college kid hits you in the back of the head. You are dazed. He hits you a few more times. Then his buddies jump in. You are thrown to the ground. Your children are crying. But you are unable to defend yourself from all of the kicking and punching. Finally, your wife calls 911. The police arrive and the 4 assailants are all arrested.

Your injuries are so severe, that you are hospitalized for days. You are diagnosed with a concussion. Luckily, the CT does not show any bleeding in the brain. You now have headaches, difficulty concentrating, and a foggy mind. You get tired easily at work. You nap all weekend. You have missed many days of work. The hospital bills are enormous.

You want to sue, but you know those kids don’t have any money. Any money they have will go to paying expensive criminal defense lawyers. Is there anything that you can do?

Actually, there is.

Landowners—in this case, the hotel—owes business invitees (you the hotel guest) the highest duty of case. Stated simply, the hotel must take steps to protect its guests from the criminal misconduct of others. You would have a right to sue the hotel for providing negligent security.

In a lawsuit against the hotel, during discovery, you would be able to find out whether there were similar incidents to this one. You will be able to determine whether the hotel knows about rowdy college kids assaulting innocent hotel guests. More basically, did the front desk manager have awareness that these rowdy hotel guests were terrorizing other guests? If any of these things were true, the hotel would have exposed itself to significant liability.

The law permits a victim of violence on premises to bring claims against a landowner for the intentional wrongs of others. Stated another way, though the hotel may not have thrown a punch, it could be liable for all of the damages you sustained as if it had. Until recently, the hotel would have only been responsible for its portion of the liability. A jury would understandably allocate most of the liability to the assailants. Under the seminal case Spencer v. Johnson, ii. Pennsylvania, you could collect all of your damages from the hotel so long as the jury finds them 1% responsible.

So if you are ever hurt by the criminal acts of another at a hotel, school, bar, or restaurant, consider that you may have a negligent security claim against the landowner.