Posted: June 22nd, 2022

Legal Memorandum Project

Legal Memorandum Project

To: All Legal Helpants
From: Junior Affiliate
Date: February 25, 2020
Re: Potential Litigation

This agency has been contacted by Susan Wheeler who is anxious that she is likely to be sued by Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Sally Hansen, former tenants in a small residence advanced owned by Mrs. Wheeler situated within the Montrose space. A number of months in the past the Hansen’s have been coming residence late at evening after a celebration. As they parked their automobile within the residence advanced car parking zone, they have been attacked by a gaggle of youths and Mrs. Hanson’s purse and their automobile have been stolen. Mr. Hansen was shot within the arm however is anticipated to make a full restoration. The Hansen’s couldn’t make a optimistic identification of their attackers however assume that certainly one of them might have been a tenant on the advanced. They’ve now threatened to sue Mrs. Wheeler.

Mrs. Wheeler doesn’t have first-hand data of the occasions of the assault, however has offered police reviews that reveal some particulars. I’ve summarized these reviews and Ms. Wheeler’s interview within the connected.

Your task is to arrange a authorized memorandum absolutely discussing the potential legal responsibility that Mrs. Wheeler might face and the way she may defend towards it. We have to deal with the problem whether or not, within the occasion that Mrs. Wheeler is sued, we are able to efficiently transfer for abstract judgment dismissing the case. After you full your analysis and put together the memorandum, we’ll ship Mrs. Wheeler a letter explaining her choices.

Interview Notes
Susan Wheeler

I’ve studied the police reviews and spoken with Mrs. Wheeler once more and have realized the data you should know to finish the memorandum. It’s possible you’ll safely assume that the next info may be confirmed to the satisfaction of a jury. The Question Assignment you might be addressing is will these information Help a judgment towards Mrs. Wheeler or can she efficiently transfer for abstract judgment.

Police reviews contained the assertion of Sam Shepherd, a retired officer of the Pasadena Police Division, who was employed as a safety guard on the advanced. On the evening in Question Assignment he walked the grounds of the property and noticed no suspicious exercise close to any residence or within the car parking zone. He did notice that a number of of the safety lights had been damaged and that he informed Mrs. Wheeler about them a number of days earlier than.

In response to police reviews, the Shady Lane Flats have been situated in a blended residential/business space. Throughout the three years previous to the Hansens’ assault, the next complaints have been made to the police regarding exercise inside a 2-mile radius of the residence advanced: 7 assaults, 5 burglaries, eight auto thefts, 12 different thefts, and 90 complaints of drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and vandalism.

Mrs. Wheeler said that she suspected that a few of her tenants is likely to be concerned in gang exercise primarily based on the graffiti on the advanced’s exterior partitions. On a number of events throughout the previous yr, Mrs. Wheeler had acquired complaints from different tenants stating that a number of younger males have been enjoying loud music at evening, ingesting, breaking glass bottles, and usually being a nuisance. Final month a tenant reported that her automobile window had been damaged however nothing was stolen. There have been no different reviews of crime on the residence advanced.

I requested Mrs. Wheeler if she usually carried out background checks on her new tenants. She mentioned that it was not her customized to research any potential tenant apart from to confirm credit score historical past.

Legal Memo Assignments
Use the next circumstances to develop the Legal Memo that may deal with the problem:

972 S.W.2nd 749* 307 S.W.3d 762*

four S.W.3d 333 214 S.W.3d 659

95 S.W.3d 395 267 S.W.3d 9

162 S.W.3d 547 429 S.W.3d 142

2014 WL 7174242 (ignore procedural concern)

March 31, 2020 Accomplished Legal Memo Due

Legal Memo
Title
Establishment

Legal Memo
TO: Junior Affiliate
FROM: Legal Helpant
DATE: March 26, 2020
RE: Potential Litigation
QUESTION PRESENTED
Beneath Texas regulation, is the owner liable in a swimsuit introduced by tenants for failure to offer satisfactory safety in premises?
BRIEF ANSWER
In all probability sure? In Texas, insufficient safety legal guidelines rely on the attention of the proprietor of the premises of the safety danger current and a failure to take correct motion to handle the risks.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
Robert and Sally Hansen are tenants of Susan Wheeler. A couple of months in the past, a gaggle of youths robbed the couple as they parkers their automobile within the car parking zone of the advanced. Consequently, Sally misplaced her purse and the robbers stole their automobile. Mr. Hansen additionally suffered a bullet wound on the arm. Fortunately, he’s on track to creating a full restoration. The couple is of the opinion that their property proprietor Susan Wheeler had the accountability to safeguard the tenants by offering satisfactory safety on the residence advanced. To that extent, the couple threatens to sue the property proprietor for losses incurred.
The police report on the incident features a assertion recorded by Sam Shepherd who’s a safety guard on the advanced. The safety guard is a former police officer. Subsequently, his Assessment on the incident is skilled. The assertion by Sam revealed that he didn’t discover suspicious exercise on the car parking zone on the day of the incident. Nonetheless, few days previous to the assault he had reported some damaged safety lights on the advanced to her boss Susan Wheeler by she didn’t take any motion. On her half, Mrs. Wheeler reported that she suspects that one of many tenants for involvement in gang actions. She additionally admitted that she didn’t conduct background checks on any of her purchasers. Subsequently, she couldn’t inform whether or not the residence was harboring thieves. In response to police reviews, the realm had recorded an increase within the variety of robberies and muggings.

DISCUSSION
I. Beneath Texas regulation, is the owner liable in a swimsuit introduced by tenants for failure to offer satisfactory safety in premises?

Tenants have a authorized proper to count on that the flats are cheap secure. The tenants shouldn’t be uncovered to unacceptable risks and pointless dangers. The property house owners have an obligation to take care of widespread areas such because the car parking zone. If the tenants have employed a safety firm, then the entities are liable for a failure of the duty to the tenants. Victims that incur accidents or losses because of the failure to fulfil the duty might have a declare for damages.
One among the many many obligations of a property proprietor is the availability of satisfactory safety. When served by a safety firm, it has the fundamental responsibility to offer an inexpensive stage of safety as contracted (Kennedy & Sakis, 2017). Nonetheless, property house owners can not forestall all prison acts. To find out if the proprietor is liable for an incident, an Assessment of their responsibility to the prison is important. The Assessment determines whether or not the property proprietor failed within the obligation or whether or not the failure was a direct reason behind the crime. Moreover, it’s crucial to find out if the risks that the property proprietor failed to guard have been foreseeable. To that extent, the tenants should show that there was an inexpensive risk that the theft because of safety situations which can be substandard.

In Texas, safety lawsuits examine whether or not the property proprietor was conscious of preexisting safety dangers however they did not take satisfactory measures to handle the risks. Nonetheless, additionally it is important to think about that no person is able to predicting when a theft will happen. Nonetheless, it’s extremely seemingly that the dearth of safety contributes to violent prison exercise. Safety meant deter prison acts ought to be a precedence for any property proprietor. Property house owners usually are not held chargeable for prison acts perpetrated by third events. Nonetheless, the victims of the prison act might search redress towards the property proprietor. The Texas premises legal responsibility legal guidelines can maintain the property proprietor chargeable for failing to discourage foreseen prison actions.

Insufficient safety is often known as negligent safety. A premise proprietor might fail to offer cheap safety to discourage acts of crime towards the tenant. Normally of insufficient safety the victims endure prison assaults and robberies. The owner might declare that she shouldn’t be liable for third social gathering actions. Nonetheless, she was conscious that the a number of the safety lights on the car parking zone have been broken. Throughout the interval, the owner didn’t make any try and restore the safety lights. The failure by the shop to implement cheap safety measures to stop crime leaves her open to a swimsuit of insufficient safety.

Negligent safety can happen in anywhere that’s open to the general public. Insufficient safety claims filed towards residential residence complexes are harder than different claims. Normally, the fits are difficult they usually require investigative expertise to unravel how the crimes really occurred.

There are three foremost exams to find out foreseeability within the negligent safety suites. The primary one is imminent hurt take a look at. Property proprietor who uncover that their tenants are in peril have an obligation to offer a warning or inform the police. The rule asserts that the property proprietor doesn’t have the responsibility to foresee a hurt. Nonetheless, she should react in haste to any type of hurt. The second take a look at is the prior prison incidents take a look at. The tenant can declare that the property proprietor ought to have identified of a possible crime if certainly one of an identical nature occurred prior to now. Lastly, the totality in circumstances take a look at. Right here, the tenants can adduce any type of proof to show foreseeability. The proof can embody prior safety measures, the character of a neighborhood, and different crimes dedicated prior to now on the premises. The courtroom considers all of the elements to find out whether or not a criminal offense might have been foreseeable.
CONCLUSION
Given the information of the matter, a abstract dismissal shouldn’t be potential. The tenant has adequate proof to make the case course of to a full swimsuit. First, the assertion offered to the police by the safety guard signifies that the tenant was conscious that a number of the safety lights within the parking weren’t working. The proprietor didn’t make any effort to switch the lights previous to the assault. Secondly, there was adequate purpose to consider that one of many tenants was concerned in prison gang actions. Regardless of the suspicion, the property proprietor didn’t report back to the authorities and she or he didn’t warn the opposite tenants of pending hazard. Moreover, the property proprietor didn’t conduct background checks on any of her tenants.

Reference
Kennedy, D. B., & Sakis, J. R. (2017). From crime to tort: Prison acts, civil legal responsibility and the behavioral science. In Psychology and regulation (pp. 133-156). Routledge.

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