Burglarized because of someone elses negligence

[toddub]

I rent shop space in an old trucking terminal so that I can perform maintenance on my Taxi Cabs. The building has a series of service bays and work shops, each having there own overhead doors. The space that I rent is accessible through my own outside door and a common area that I share with 2 other tenants.
2 weeks ago one of the other tenants left their big overhead door open for 1-1/2 days over the weekend. When I went to my shop on Monday I had been burglarized, about $9,000 worth of tools and equipment was gone.
I called the police, they came out and took a report, while the police were there the other tenant came to his shop space. I asked their employee why the door was left open over the weekend. He stated he left it open to let the air come in and dry out the floors, which were still all wet from their dump trucks.
Because they left their overhead door open, the burglar had access to the common area and my service bay.
I called the home office of the company that leases the space. I talked to the general manager, told him the situation and asked to be compensated for my missing equipment. He refused to pay anything and will not cooperate with me in any way.
I do not have insurance for theft. So I guess it's partially my own fault for the loss.
Does this sound like something I could peruse through Small Claims Court?
If so, where would I start?

Regards,
Todd Uebe
Roseville, MN

 

[NYClex]

To bring a claim of negligence one basically has to prove four elements:

1) That the defendant owed a duty of reasonable care
2) That the defendant breached this duty by unreasonable conduct
3) That the defendant's conduct was the actual and proximate cause of plaintiff's harm
4) That plaintiff had damage

Now, the last element is a given here. Element 3 would require you to prove that the burglars were able to get your stuff because of the defendant's conduct.

Elements one and two would depend on the actual circumstances. At first glance here it sounds reasonable that the neighboring tenant would have had a duty to keep his doors shut and that it was unreasonable to leave them open and unattended. Most of the argument would probably concern foreseeability.

We cannot give specific legal advice here on this forum, but this is the general law and that is what you would look at to make your case.

You would also want to look at your own conduct, if there was something you could have done to prevent the burglary. If your own conduct could be called unreasonable your recovery would be limited.

 

[toddub]

To bring a claim of negligence one basically has to prove four elements:

1) That the defendant owed a duty of reasonable care

The following day they dissabled their overhead door so that it could only be opend from the inside.

2) That the defendant breached this duty by unreasonable conduct

The other tenants admitedly left their door open. Owners of the building called the tenant and told them to secure their door.

3) That the defendant's conduct was the actual and proximate cause of plaintiff's harm

The police noted that someone had cleared a path within my shop leading to the common area of the building. The burglars also left behind some of my items in the common area.

4) That plaintiff had damage

Tools and equipment missing.

This addresses all 4 elements.
An argument could be made that I should have done more to secure my door leading to the common area.

After looking in the phone book most of the Attorneys listed specialize in Personal Injury, DWI, Bankruptcy, Workers Comp and Criminal Defense. What type of Attorney should I be looking for, or is something that can be handled without an Attorney?

~Todd

 

[NYClex]

Since the amount of damage is probably beyond the limits of small claims court you would have to file in regular court. You can do this yourself (pro se) but you would then have to pay attention to all the requirements of filing, serving, etc etc. And of course, going pro se, you would have to do all the work in court as well.

Since this is a relatively minor amount, it could well be that the other side is willing to settle before going to court over this. Especially if they have insurance. So you might want to find out how much they are willing to compromise.

Of course, if you could hire an attorney this would be much easier for you. Of the specialties you listed there a personal injury attorney would be the most likely, but you might look for any general practitioner.