PHILADELPHIA – This week, a Center City office building landlord agreed to pay $6 million to a woman who was brutally assaulted at work in the middle of the day because of allegedly negligent security.
R.F. (an adult individual) first filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on March 2, 2023 versus 211 N. 13th Street Associates, LP, North 13, LLC, Belmont Funding, LLC, Felchen 15, LP and Felchen 15, LLC. All parties are of Philadelphia.
(Defendant Willie Harris was later named in a June 13, 2023 joinder complaint, while the Felchen 15 defendants were dismissed from the case on July 12, 2023.)
According to the suit, R.F. was working as a paralegal at a small law firm on the eighth floor of a nine-story commercial office building near 13th and Arch Streets on July 5, 2022, when the assailant was allowed entry into the building – despite the building having a security guard, and requiring key card access or to be buzzed in by security to enter the locked doors.
The attacker was said to have closely followed a person leaving the building to gain entry and went in, unnoticed and unquestioned by the security guard. Subsequently, he trailed the plaintiff to her office, where he physically and sexually assaulted her, then robbed and raped her.
The only thing which caused the assault to stop was the return to the office of a plaintiff’s co-worker from lunch. The assailant then left the building without incident and without being stopped by security.
Though R.F.’s attacker was later apprehended and criminally convicted of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, burglary, robbery and related charges and is awaiting sentencing – the plaintiff contends it was the aspect of the defendants’ negligent security that allowed the assault to occur in the first place.
Plaintiff counsel pointed out alleged “numerous flaws with the building’s security that allowed the attack to happen”, including:
• The landlord positioned the security desk in the lobby in a spot where the security guard couldn’t see the entirety of the front doors and stairs unless he was watching a monitor showing a live feed;
• There was no locked barrier door from the stairs in the lobby that led to the upper floors; and
• There was no buzzer or alarm to alert the guard that the front door was open or that someone had gained access to any of the floors through the stairs.
However, the defendants categorically denied these charges and instead assigned any and all liability for the plaintiff’s injuries to the assailant.
In the resulting civil litigation, discovery and depositions took place before the case was settled in the plaintiff’s favor prior to trial, for $6 million.
Plaintiff counsel Lorraine Donnelly of Kline & Specter offered a statement on the settlement.
“Our client’s life has been forever changed by this brutal crime, which happened during business hours at work where she felt safe. But for the negligent security of the landlord and their security guard, this brutal attack would not have occurred. We hope that landlords in our city and elsewhere will realize the importance of having reasonable security to protect their tenants and employees, including from criminal acts of intruders. Our client will have a lifetime of healing from the scars of this avoidable tragedy,” Donnelly said.
The plaintiff was represented by Thomas R. Kline and Lorraine Donnelly of Kline & Specter, in Philadelphia.
The defendants were represented Robert L. Sanzo and Suchi Vuu of Litchfield Cavo, also in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 230300228
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com