The Challenge
We were advising a plaintiff’s attorney on a civil lawsuit involving negligent security where the City of New York was involved. A resident in a shelter was stabbed by another resident. During the EBT stage (deposition), the attorney elicited from the witness representing the NYC Department of Social Services that she was the one who requested that a background check be performed by the city’s outside vendor. However, she was also the one who reviewed the results. When asked what their policy was on who was eligible to live in the shelter based on a background check, she said there was no formal policy on that and that the decision to accept or reject residents was up to her. When asked how far back she went on her background check, she said 5 years. When asked why “5 years,” she said she didn’t really know. When asked what her training was for doing reviews on the results of a background check, she said she had none.
In fact, we were easily able to ascertain that this resident, who stabbed two other residents right in front of the security while living at this shelter, had extensive prior criminal convictions in CT – and they were all within the last 5 years. When we asked her how she missed that, she simply said, “I’m not an investigator.” So, then the question that would enter any jurors’ minds would be “Who supervises this seat-of-the-pants and amateurish operation?” It’s not a good look, and that’s why defendants settle out of court most of the time.
The Result
So think about how you and your company, if embroiled in a civil lawsuit over negligent security, would answer the following questions: What is your formal written policy on this or that? What type of training was provided to your staff pertaining to this or that? What type of supervision was in place? Who exactly was overseeing all this and how effective were they? Could you confidently answer those questions (and provide documentation)? If you think you would have trouble answering those queries, and many more that will be fired off at you while you’re in the hot seat, give us a call so we can help you get your ducks in a row beforehand. Closing the barn door “after” the horse leaves is not the best approach to managing your security operations.