Premises liability lawsuits relating to security at office buildings and office complexes are generally initiated by plaintiffs who suffered personal injuries during assaults on the property. Alleged negligence often pertains to the adequacy of access control and identification systems, physical security, internal controls or the competence of protective personnel.

Mr. Schmedlen's expertise in this area comes from his real world experience in conducting physical security surveys/risk analyses of such facilities rather than from his limited expert witness litigation experience involving office complexes.

These surveys have ranged from corporate headquarters staffed with thousands of employees, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Masco Corporation/Masco Industries, Inc., to mid-sized facilities, such as AT&T de Mexico, BBDO/Ross Roy (Troy, MI) and the Detroit law firm of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, VanDusen & Freeman, P.C. Surveys of smaller office environments have included Unimex, Universal Security Instruments, Spartan Express and many others. It is not unusual for Mr. Schmedlen's survey reports of large office buildings to run between 300 - 400 pages.

In most states, if the plaintiff is an employee of the defendant entity, the sole remedy properties of the workers' compensation statute can provide immunity when this defense is recognized. Therefore, most litigation in this category involves multi tenant office complexes or situations where plaintiffs are business invitees.

Please scroll down to view the security expert witness office buildings case title and a list of security surveys/risk analyses conducted by Mr. Schmeden at corporate headquarters and other office complexes.

SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS LITIGATION CASE HISTORY
OFFICE BUILDINGS AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

2005 Shooting Event
Office security expert witness for plaintiff
Oakland County, Michigan
(No case title as complaint has not been filed yet pending response to demand letter.)

An attachment to Mr. Schmedlen's curriculum vitae identifies the client in this matter and contains a recap of the case.

SECURITY SURVEYS OF CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS AND OFFICE BUILDINGS

AT&T de México (Corporate HQ)
Lomas District, México City, D.F., México

BBDO/Ross Roy/Pentamark (Division HQ)
Troy, Michigan

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan (Corporate HQ)
Detroit, Michigan

Electra Group, Ltd. (Corporate HQ)
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

League General Insurance Company (Corporate HQ)
Southfield, Michigan

Masco Corporation/Masco Industries, Inc. (Corporate HQ)
Taylor, Michigan

Mercury Paint Company (Corporate HQ)
Detroit, Michigan

Spartan Express, Inc. (Corporate HQ)
Greer, South Carolina

Uniméx (Now Michelin) (Corporate HQ)
Mexico City, D.F., México

Universal Security Instruments, Inc. (Corporate HQ)
Owings Mills, Maryland

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan
Southfield, Michigan

Dickinson, Wright, Moon, VanDusen & Freeman, P.C.
Detroit, Michigan

Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company
Troy, Michigan

An attachment to Mr. Schmedlen's curriculum vitae recaps the security projects listed above.

Questions on this subject? Write Roger H. Schmedlen, CPP, CFE, CII, MIPI

Office Complex and Office Security Expert Witness travel time is capped as follows on litigation cases:
3 hours round trip: Illinois (Northeast Illinois including Chicago IL), Indiana (North of Muncie IN), Michigan (All of Michigan except MI Upper Peninsula), Ohio (Columbus OH and Northern OH)
4 hours round trip: Delaware (All of DE), District of Columbia (Metropolitan Washington DC area), Florida (Orlando FL south including Florida keys), Illinois (All of IL except, Northeast Illinois, Chicago IL), Indiana (South of Muncie IN), Iowa (All of IA east of Council Bluffs IA), Kansas (Eastern KS area including Kansas City KS), Kentucky (All of KY), Maryland (All of MD), Michigan (Central and Eastern Upper Peninsula, MI), Minnesota (East of Detroit Lakes MN), Missouri (All of MO), New Jersey (All of NJ), New York (All of NY including NYC), North Carolina (West of Raleigh Durham NC metro area), Ohio (Southern OH, south of Columbus OH), Oregon (Coastal OR areas including Portland OR), Pennsylvania (All of PA), South Carolina (Greenville SC Spartanburg SC area), Tennessee (All of TN), Virginia (Western VA west of Richmond VA), Washington (Coastal WA cities), West Virginia (All of WV), Wisconsin (All of WI)
5 hours round trip: Alabama (All of AL), Arkansas (All of AK), Arizona (Southern half of AZ south of Prescott AZ to Nogales AZ and including the Phoenix AZ and Tucson AZ areas), Arizona (Northwest AZ including Lake Mead, AZ and Las Vegas, NV areas), California (Western CA coastal cities regions and Southern California including Los Angeles CA, Orange County CA and northwestern regions such as San Francisco CA), Colorado (Boulder CA and Denver CA areas), Connecticut (All of CT), Florida (North of Orlando FL metro area, Florida Panhandle and of of FL in Central Time Zone), Georgia (All of GA including Atlanta GA), Iowa (All of IA west of Council Bluffs IA), Kansas (Most of KS west of Kansas City KS), Louisiana (All of LA), Maine (All of ME), Massachusetts (All of MA), Michigan (Western Upper Peninsula MI), Minnesota (West of Detroit Lakes MN), Mississippi (All of MS), Nebraska (All of NE east of CO), Nevada (Extreme southern NV including Las Vegas NV region), New Hampshire (All of NH), North Carolina (Raleigh Durham NC east), North Dakota (East of Minot ND), Oklahoma (All of OK), Rhode Island (All off RI), South Carolina (All of SC except the Greenville SC Spartanburg SC area), South Dakota (East of Rapid City SD), Texas (Northeast TX including Dallas Fort Worth TX), Vermont (All of VT), Virginia (Eastern VA including Richmond VA)
6 hours round trip: Arizona (Northern half of AZ), California (Eastern CA north of Death Valley CA area), Colorado (All of CO except for Boulder CA and Denver CA areas), Idaho (All of ID), Montana (All of MT), Nebraska (Western NE), Nevada (All of NV except extreme south Las Vegas NV region), New Mexico (All of NM), North Dakota (Minot ND and west), Oregon (Eastern 3/4 of OR), South Dakota (Rapid City SD and west), Texas (Northeast TX including Dallas Fort Worth TX), Utah (All of UT), Washington (All of WA except coastal WA cities), Wyoming (All of WY)
Negotiable: Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

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OFFICE SECURITY EXPERT
SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS