Bouncer and Security Liability

When you go to a bar or nightclub in Michigan, you expect to be able to drink and have fun. Perhaps you are there to dance or listen to live music. Bouncers and security personnel are hired to maintain a safe environment where everyone can enjoy themselves. Unfortunately, bouncers or security personnel may need to intervene in bar fights or other disputes. They should be properly trained to deal with situations in a nonviolent and appropriate way. However, when a bouncer or security guard does not behave appropriately, the result may be serious injuries. At the Neumann Law Group, our Grand Rapids and Traverse City personal injury attorneys may be able to help victims recover damages based on bouncer or security liability.

In some cases, you may be able to hold a bar or nightclub responsible for injuries inflicted by its bouncer or security guard. A bar may be held vicariously responsible for a bouncer employee who causes injuries in the course and scope of employment. The actions of the bouncer who caused the injuries must have arisen out of their job duties—such as breaking up a bar fight— and be foreseeable rather than totally unrelated to the job.

An establishment may also be held directly liable for injuries caused by security guards if you can prove that the owner's own actions were the legal cause of the injuries. Direct liability theories include the premises liability theory of negligent security or theories like negligent hiring, negligent supervision, or negligent training.

For example, if a bar owner hires a bouncer who has a history of violent felony arrests and convictions, the owner may be liable under a theory of negligent hiring for the bouncer's subsequent violent conduct on the job, if it results in an injury to a patron. Similarly, if a nightclub hires a security guard with no experience or training, and then the security guard gets overly aggressive while removing a drunk patron, causing injuries, the nightclub might be liable under a theory of negligent training.

A bouncer or security guard who causes injuries may also be liable under theories of assault and battery as well as negligence. Assaults are any intentional actions that are intended to cause a reasonable apprehension of imminent and harmful conduct. For example, if a security guard takes out a gun or a fake weapon and threatens a patron with it, this would likely give rise to an assault cause of action. No actual touching is necessary for assault to occur. Battery is also an intentional tort, and it may occur if there is an intentional unauthorized touching.

Often, bar or nightclub employees in Michigan, such as bouncers, do not have sufficient resources to compensate someone for the injuries that were inflicted. It may be advisable to sue both the employee and the establishment. If you are hurt or a loved one is killed, and you are trying to establish bouncer or security liability, our Traverse City and Grand Rapids attorneys may be able to assist you. We also represent people in Detroit, Flint, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Midland, Muskegon, Saginaw, Wyoming, Petoskey, Warren, and Holland, among other communities in the Upper Peninsula. Contact the Neumann Law Group at 800-525-NEUMANN or via our online form for a free appointment with a personal injury or wrongful death lawyer.