Crime victims can sometimes be compensated for their injuries

Being a victim of a violent crime is a terrible experience. An assault by a criminal can cause serious injuries. Even if you’re not permanently injured, it can leave emotional scars from which it’s hard to recover. In addition to any loss of property, you may have medical bills, lost wages, and mental suffering.

In many cases, though, it may be possible for a victim to be compensated for such injuries through the legal system.

In theory, a victim could sue the criminal - but even if the criminal is caught, it’s unlikely that he or she will have any significant assets with which to repay a victim.

However, it might be possible to be compensated by others - for instance, a property owner who should have protected you from the crime, but failed to do so.

In general, landowners have a legal duty to take reasonable measures to protect people on their property from crime, and if they don’t, they can be legally responsible to the victims. This is especially true if it’s a commercial property, or if the property owner is a landlord.

For instance, a recent lawsuit in Indiana involved a customer who was injured in the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store when a young man grabbed her purse and tried to steal her car. She sued Kroger, claiming the grocery chain didn’t provide adequate security.

Kroger argued that it didn’t have to provide security measures because the store was located in a low-crime area. But a court didn’t buy that argument, noting that at least one other attempted carjacking had recently occurred in the same parking lot. The court said a jury should decide whether the store was liable for the customer’s injuries.

Of course, a grocery store doesn’t have to provide airport-type security screening for everyone who drives into the parking lot. But it does have to take reasonable security precautions. What’s reasonable usually depends on how likely a crime is to occur - that is, whether crime is foreseeable. And that usually depends on how many other crimes have been committed on the site, in the nearby area, and on similar types of properties in a larger area.

A commercial property owner or landlord is expected to be aware of this information and to act accordingly.

Properties whose owners have been sued for inadequate security include malls and shopping centers, parking lots and garages, hotels and motels, apartment buildings, restaurants, bars, amusement parks, college campuses, and others.

There’s no one type of security that fits all circumstances. But here are some examples of things that have resulted in property owners being held liable for inadequate security:

• Insufficient lighting (since criminals are attracted to dark areas).
• Not hiring enough security guards.
• Poor training of security guards.
• Not providing new locks for an apartment.
• Not fixing windows and doors through which a criminal could gain access to a building.
• Not performing criminal background checks on employees who interact with the public.
• Malfunctioning security cameras or other security equipment.

Sadly, the recent recession is likely to increase the number of inadequate security cases. Many property owners whose profits are being squeezed are choosing to cut back on expenses by reducing security measures - and putting their customers directly in harm’s way.

If you or someone you know has been injured by a criminal, it’s a good idea to speak with an attorney. The police are there to track down and arrest the criminal. But only an attorney can investigate what security measures the property owner had in place, what the property owner knew (or should have known) about the risks, and whether the owner should be legally responsible to the victim for what happened.

Lead paint has been banned for decades in the U.S., but children are still being injured from lead paint poisoning.

Lead paint was banned from homes in 1978 after studies showed that children can suffer brain damage and other problems if they inhale lead paint dust or eat lead paint chips.

But lead paint can still be found in many older buildings. And if those older buildings are not maintained properly, leaky roofs and water damage can cause old layers of paint to chip and peel.

Stringent laws in many cities require landlords to inspect and maintain their buildings. And that’s helped reduce instances of childhood lead poisoning, especially in large apartment projects and public housing.

But many owners of smaller buildings either can’t afford or don’t know how to properly maintain their apartments to avoid exposing tenants to lead paint. Those are the buildings where children are most likely to be poisoned.

Many of the recent technological advances in medicine are wonderful. But however terrific a new machine may be, it’s only as good as the doctor or technician operating it.

And if the operator hasn’t received proper training, injuries can result. That’s why it’s important that hospitals provide adequate instruction as well as shiny new equipment.

Recently, a New Hampshire patient filed a lawsuit claiming that she was injured because her surgeons used a sophisticated new surgical robot, called the daVinci robot, without fully understanding how to operate it. It’s the first lawsuit in the country involving the device.

The daVinci is a robotic system with a 3-D viewer for surgeons. The surgeon, who is seated, uses controls on a master console to maneuver the device’s four robotic arms.

However terrific a new machine may be, it’s only as good as the doctor or technician operating it. And if the operator hasn’t received proper training, injuries can result.

The manufacturer claims that the system is a major improvement over laparoscopic surgery because it gives surgeons an “immersive experience” that provides higher magnification and better dexterity. It says patients can benefit from a minimally invasive procedure and shorter hospital stays.

But Sherry Long of Rochester, N.H., claims her ureters were accidentally cut during a hysterectomy using the robot. She is suing the hospital and two doctors, and blames her injury on the operating surgeon’s lack of training on the proper use of the robot.

The device requires extensive instruction, and it’s possible that some hospitals are encouraging doctors to use it and other complex new equipment without the kind of thorough preparation that’s necessary.

About 500 lawsuits have been filed nationwide claiming that people’s severe nervous system disorders are the result of taking a drug for stomach problems.

The drug is called metoclopramide. It was the active ingredient in Reglan, a medicine that was prescribed for reflux and other gastrointestinal disorders in adults and children. But since 2001, it has been available as a generic, so even if you weren’t prescribed Reglan, you could still have taken metoclopramide.

The lawsuits claim that the drug’s manufacturers didn’t warn doctors and patients that long-term use of the drug could lead to tardive dyskinesia. Tardive dyskinesia is a neurological disorder that can produce involuntary and repetitive body movements, especially facial spasms.

The FDA last year issued a warning about the potential dangers of metoclopramide.