Can ADT be sued for sending subscriber to crime scene? March 20, 2019

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
You can read all of our articles on our website.  Having trouble getting our emails?   Change your spam controls and white list ken@kirschenbaumesq.com 
************************************
More on ADT’s gross negligence win / danger relying on subcontractor’s insurance / free webinar
March 20, 2019
*********************
Free Webinar:
I will be presenting a webinar for SSI on March 21, 2019 at 2 PM EST on what legal issues you need to know before entering the DYI market. Here's the link if you'd like to attend.
https://ssi.ehmedia.co/webinar-registration26890628 
*******************************​​
Notice:  I'll be at ISC West in April.  Call our Concierge Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304 to arrange a private meeting and consultation.  Meetings and consults will be No Charge during the ISC show.   Only a few spots left for private meetings.  Call today if interested.
I will also be scheduling meet and greet times at a few central station booths in the exhibition hall.  That schedule will be posted here soon.
************************
Can ADT be sued for sending subscriber to crime scene?
March 20, 2019
**********************
Can ADT be sued for sending subscriber to crime scene?
**********************
            I’d like to hear from all the experts on this one.  All the security professionals;  seriously.
            “At trial, the victim testified that his convenience store, Gabe’s Market, was located on Macon Road. Sometime before 11:00 p.m. on August 21, 2015, he received a call from ADT Security Service informing him he needed to go to the store and wait for the police because the store’s front doors had been broken.”
            “The victim left home and drove his truck to the store. Upon arrival, he parked, got out, and walked around the outside of the store. Upon seeing broken glass at the side of the building, he returned to his truck and sat inside to wait for the police. When he heard a knock from the rear of the truck, he got out and turned in that direction. He saw two men approaching him from the back of the truck. One of the men “was lighter skinned, a little skinnier and taller. The other one [was] shorter and a little bit chubbier at the time.” The taller man pointed a silver gun at the victim and said, “Give me my money. Give me the money.”  State of Tennessee v Tyler Brooks and Tavares Jackson, Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee. March 11, 2019
            The reported case deals with the sufficiency of the conviction, which the appeal court upheld.  But that’s not what I was thinking about when I read the decision.  
            ADT, believing that a burglary was in progress, calls the subscriber and tells him that he has to go to the store.  “…he needed to wait for the police”.  That sounds like ADT figured the subscriber would get to the store before the police; he had to wait for the police to arrive.  The subscriber did as he was instructed to do.  He could have walked into the store in the middle of the burglary and gotten killed.  These perps had a gun.  Instead he waited in the parking lot and the perps confronted him and robbed him.
            I suspect that many central stations would give the same instruction.  Subscribers are called when there is a burglary signal.  Some may decide on their own to go to the location of the burglary.  Others may decide to wait for the police to contact them.  In this case the ADT told the subscriber to go to the store [that’s all that’s reported in the case and of course there could have been much more discussed].  
            My question is, why shouldn’t this subscriber – store owner sue ADT for telling him to go to the store and wait for the police?  Maybe he should have been warned that going to the store could be dangerous.  Was a salesman from ADT going to meet him at the store, because it seems like the perfect time to talk about installing some cameras that can be accessed from the subscriber’s home.  The case mentions that there was video in the store but there was no suggestion by ADT that the subscriber access the cameras to check out the cause of the alarm signal.  Maybe ADT should offer guard service to this subscriber.  Then it could have been the guard who got robbed instead of the subscriber.
            Is this the best practice for monitoring centers to follow?  Is there a reason to suggest that a subscriber go to a potential crime scene while the crime is in progress to wait for the police?   How about a fire; go there and wait for the fire department?  
            Is there any different than a central station operator telling a subscriber that a burglar alarm signal was received but it’s “probably OK to go into the house” several hours later?  That particular subscriber claimed that the perp was hiding in the house and raped her.  
            The above store owner got off lucky.  He could have been killed.  Does the monitoring center have any responsibility for sending the subscriber into harm’s way?  If the monitoring center is tasked by contract to receive signals, notify First Responders, and notify the subscriber, does that mean instructing the subscriber to go to the crime scene?  Would that part of the conversation be beyond the duties mandated by the contract, in other words, “extra contract”?  
            How does your monitoring center handle this scenario?
**********************
CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY PROGRAM
********************
You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304.
I am looking forward to meeting all Concierge Clients in Las Vegas at ISC West in April.  Please make arrangements with Stacy Spector,Esq. 
***********************
NOTICE:  You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles
***********************
THE ALARM EXCHANGE

This area is reserved for alarm classifieds, alarm company announcements, solicitations, offers, etc. Those wishing to sell or buy; borrow or lend; dealer program or dealer; central stations; insurance brokers; business  brokers, insurance companies. Equipment to sell; looking for employees; subcontractors; mergers;

Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com