NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – An appeals court has reversed judgment for the owner of a New York City building at which a woman was raped while trying to use a restaurant’s bathroom.
The April 27 ruling revives claims against the building’s owner, Harvard Agency Co., and the company it leases to, Turnmill LLC, that stem from the 2015 rape of a woman known in court documents as Jane Doe.
The court found favor with arguments from the plaintiff regarding the foreseeability of the attack. She produced an expert testimony who said the bar/restaurant was in a high-crime area and that it lacked adequate security.
There had been an assault at another building Harvard owned a couple blocks from the one at issue in Doe’s case, and the company’s vice president had said he expected Turnmill to review security procedures.
He also agreed video surveillance would help deter criminal activity, but Turnmill put three new cameras in its bar area and other locations – and not in the basement area near its restaurant.
In December 2014, Turnmill bought 10 security cameras intended to go in the basement but they were not installed.