Many victims of crime believe that their only source for justice is the District Attorney’s office. This is true in one respect. The defendant can only be punished and sent to jail if the District Attorney prosecutes the case. What if someone’s negligence assisted a criminal in committing a crime against you? What if there was a duty of care that an organization failed to deliver that lead to you being the victim of a crime? The answer is that you can recover from them under a variety of tort theories. Crime victims have rights. Far to often these rights are never asserted. I will clarify with an example. Imagine a woman is raped in a hotel room. The rapist gained entry to the room because the cleaning lady failed to lock the window after she was done making the room. Her failure to secure the room and protect the occupant was negligent and the hotel can be held liable for damages associated with the rape. This is true even though the rapist had no association with the hotel and the hotel did not conspire in anyway with the rapist. At Levin & Zeiger LLP we consult with victims of crime and explain what their rights are to determine if a case exists.
Crime Victims Have Rights
