When a business in New York does not keep its property safe and someone ends up dying as a result, it may face claims for financial accountability through the legal system. In one out-of-state case, the loved ones of a worker at a McDonald’s who was killed after she was stabbed multiple times blames the restaurant for her death. A premises liability claim asserts that the restaurant permitted the woman’s ex-boyfriend to loiter there for several hours prior to the woman’s death.
Both the victim and the accused man were homeless and had previously dated for approximately six months. Prosecutors say the man killed the woman and buried her in a shallow grave. The ex-boyfriend was later charged with murder in the first degree.
The mother of the 33-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against both McDonald’s restaurant and the man, age 47, who has been charged in the woman’s death. The mother alleges that the restaurant failed to maintain an environment that was safe. For instance, in addition to allowing the man to loiter there, the restaurant let him sit and stare at the woman, menacingly and continuously. Based on the lawsuit, the man also yelled at, swore at and verbally abused the woman as she worked.
The restaurant’s actions are said to have allowed the man to repeatedly accost the woman and then abduct her and finally kill her. The mother seeks a minimum of $100,000 in damages in her premises liability lawsuit. The family members of those who have died as a result of a dangerous property condition in New York have the right to pursue legal redress through the civil court system.
Source: Chicago Tribune, “Family sues McDonald’s for allowing suspect in woman’s death to loiter“, Marwa Eltagouri, Oct. 8, 2015
