Liability for security system failure: your client's workplace appeared safe: it had a seemingly impenetrable security system, but it proved unreliable when an intruder bypassed it and injured your client. The law affords compensation.

Trial, December, 2004 by Bodiford, Raymond O.

Does an alarm company have a duty to its client's employees or the public to use due care in the installation of an alarm system? Not surprisingly, defendants claim that no such duty exists, but many courts have found otherwise.

A plaintiff who has been injured--physically or financially--as a result of crime on a premises equipped with a faulty security system may pursue several causes of action. Possible liability theories include breach of contract, strict products liability, negligence, breach of warranty, negligent and intentional misrepresentation, and negligent and strict failure to warn.

Courts have held that both contractual and tort duties may arise in these cases. In Nicholas v. Miami Burglar Alarm Co., for example, the owner of a tobacco...

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