Apartment security expert witness John Harris conducted a forensic evaluation and opined in litigation that resulted in a $20 million award to a female tenant who was raped in her apartment at Promenade Culllen Park in Houston, TX….
Mr. Harris found that the apartment complex did not comply with security industry standards, consensual guidelines and industry best practices regarding notification to tenants of crimes occurring on the property and of dangerous conditions posed by easy accessibility to second floor balconies by unauthorized persons. He determined that notices sent to tenants by management misstated the facts of the previous break-in and withheld information about potential harm to the tenants of the property including the rape victim. As a result of this conclusion the apartment management practices were examined under the Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act and were found to be in violation due the intentional withholding of facts to gain business.