Week 10: Premises Security Liability and Forensic Security Ourfocus is on liability that security managers may face insupervising effective security programs. Shielding the organizationfrom lawsuits by avoiding inadequate security claims is part of theresponsibility of security managers. Effective security planningcan mitigate such risks. For our discussion this week, we considera case involving the security assessment of a parking lot at acommercial establishment. These are areas are often found to havevulnerabilities in terms of reasonably foreseeable threats andwhere customers or guests may become crime victims. Consider thefollowing Wal-Mart case. Review the case and note the applicablelegal liability principles and factors that are important indetermining whether the case should be decided for or against theplaintiff. After you have addressed the application of the legalprinciples to the relevant facts, provide your well-reasonedconclusion and opinion about how the case should be decided. If youdecide that Wal-Mart is legally liable, what do you believe theyshould settle for? Also, note what you believe a business likeWal-Mart should provide as reasonable security measures to protecttheir employees, customers and their property? Wal-Mart Sued ByAbductee's Husband By Kenneth A. Gailliard, The Sun News CONWAY -The husband of a Galivants Ferry woman is suing Wal-Mart for $10million more than three years after two men abducted her from theparking lot of the retail giant's Conway store and killed her. Thelawsuit accuses Wal-Mart of negligence and carelessness thatresulted in Alice Donovan's injuries and death. Donovan's husband,Barry, declined comment Wednesday, and his lawyer, Geoffrey H.Waggoner of Charleston, could not be reached. Donovan has asked fora jury trial. No date has been set. A pair of jail escapeesabducted Donovan immediately after she drove into the Wal-Martparking lot off U.S. 501. They then forced her to drive away fromthe parking lot in her car and into Brunswick County, N.C. Theylater killed her. Her body has not been found. Federal juriesconvicted Chadrick Fulks and Branden Basham of her murder. Fulksreceived South Carolina's first federal death sentence, and Bashamreceived the second. Allegations in the lawsuit include thatWal-Mart failed to adequately monitor and control its premises, toeffectively protect its patrons, to warn patrons of the nature andextent of crimes committed on the premises, and to ensure thatexisting security procedures were followed. The suit also saysWal-Mart should have been aware of the potential for violent crimesto happen in its parking lot. Wal-Mart spokesman Martin Heires saidthe company secures its parking lots, though he did not elaborate.Premise liability suits are common and around 90 percent of themresult in settlements. Donovan drove into the store lot about 2:30p.m. unaware the men who pulled in behind her were escapees from aKentucky jail riding in a stolen truck they wanted to ditch. Whenshe pulled into a parking space at the store, Basham jumped fromthe truck, got into Donovan's BMW and forced her to drive to theback of the parking lot. There Fulks abandoned the truck and thetwo men forced Donovan to drive away. Police said the men drove herinto Brunswick County, N.C., later that day, but police have notbeen able to determine where they took her. Both men gave policeseveral stories about her whereabouts, and extensive searches wereconducted for her in North and South Carolina. Prior to kidnappingDonovan, Fulks and Basham were in West Virginia, where theykidnapped and killed college student Samantha Burns. Both menreceived life sentences in that state for Burns' death.