McDonald's lawsuit proves strong facility security a necessity rather than an option

Sept. 3, 2014
Restaurant recently found liable for deaths of two Texas college students, parents awarded $27M

Many organizations initially ramped up their security measures after 9/11 with fears running rampant about the potential for terror attacks on malls, sporting events and schools. That tightening of security slowly evaporated over the years as anticipated attacks failed to materialize.

However, new threats have replaced the ever-present fear of a terrorist attack on an individual facility. For example, a Texas jury recently awarded the parents of two Blinn College students $27 million in a lawsuit they filed against McDonald’s, arguing the restaurant's lack of security measures resulted in the deaths of their children. McDonald’s was found liable for failing to provide adequate security not for the restaurant itself, but rather for the parking lot.

Two teenagers lost their lives that night in February of 2012. Denton James Ward, 18, was attacked and killed by a mob in the McDonald’s franchise parking lot in College Station.  The other teen, 19-year-old Lauren Bailey Crisp, was killed in a car crash trying to take Ward to a hospital.

The prosecution called police officers who testified that police had been called more than 20 times that year to break up fights at that location.  Lawyers for the victims’ families argued that McDonald’s failed to employ a security guard or install surveillance equipment to protect patrons in the parking lot.

“The night these two kids died, this was a dangerous location, and McDonald’s knew it,” Chris Hamilton, an attorney for the Crisp and Ward families, said in a statement. “Yet they did nothing to prevent their senseless deaths.”

This lawsuit is a wake-up call for other public facilities that have had security issues, but still have not increased security for their customers.  Potential controls for such public facilities could include:

  • Visible security officer presence
  • Monitored security cameras
  • Panic/duress alarms in at-risk locations
  • Roving security patrols
  • Defined security policy on when to call police
  • Annual security-risk assessments
  • Warning signs

The local threat environment is also a cause for concern for facilities that are located in places with a high rate for violent crimes or property crimes.  In the McDonald’s case, the crime rate for College Station, Texas, was higher than U.S. national average, and slightly higher than the average crime rate for the state.

In addition to potential lawsuits brought by victim’s families related to "lax security," OSHA, which is getting more pro-active in ensuring worker safety, could also sanction organizations that have continual high rates of violence toward their workers, possibly claiming that the employer violated the “General Duty Clause” which protects workers against having to work in an unsafe environment.

Organizations are getting close to having a minimum acceptable standard for security programs, which could include the aforementioned controls, as well as annual risk assessments to provide realistic security estimates for facilities across the U.S.