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Second Lawsuit Filed by Thomas Law Offices Against Louisville Apartment Complex for Negligence in Assault Case

Published on Jul 16, 2024 by Thomas Law Offices.

Second lawsuit filed by Thomas Law against Louisville apartment complex for negligence in assault case

Last week, attorney David Barber of Thomas Law Offices filed a second lawsuit against River Breeze Apartments, alleging negligence and failure to ensure tenant safety after residents were attacked and sexually assaulted in Louisville.

What Happened at River Breeze Apartments?

According to the complaint, the survivor was “brutally attacked, beaten, kidnapped, robbed, and sexually assaulted at gunpoint by a man matching the description of the same perpetrator of the prior crimes on the premises.”

Multiple women reported being assaulted or pursued at River Breeze Apartments by a suspect wearing a black facemask and carrying a handgun. The lawsuit claims that despite being alerted to the pattern of assaults, apartment management took no action to prevent or warn tenants about potential dangers.

In an interview with WAVE about the lawsuit, Barber said, “If you have a known risk on your premises, including criminal activity, that after you can see that it’s happening, you have a duty then, a heightened duty, to provide for the safety of your tenants and a definite duty to warn them. The things that would’ve protected people there and would have prevented all of these women from being attacked and injured are inexpensive and easy.”

What About the Initial Lawsuit?

The first lawsuit was filed in June by student Hannah Harshfield. Before Harshfield was attacked, she knew of at least two other tenants who were attacked on or near the apartments. Additionally, these attacks were part of a larger pattern of similar assaults believed to have been committed by the same suspect, which included assaults against women at other apartment complexes in the area surrounding River Breeze.

“The decent thing to do would have been to let people know there’s this danger,” said Barber. “River Breeze Apartments chose not to warn its tenants, leading to these assaults. This allowed the pattern of assaults to continue unchecked, posing a risk of harm to tenants and community members.”

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Tad Thomas - Trial Lawyer

Tad Thomas

Managing Partner

Tad Thomas has dedicated his practice to representing plaintiffs in various types of civil litigation, including personal injury, business litigation, class actions, and multi-district litigation.

After graduating with his law degree in 2000 from Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University, Mr. Thomas immediately opened his own private practice and began representing injury victims.

In 2011, Thomas Law Offices was established in Louisville, Kentucky. Over the past decade, Mr. Thomas has expanded his firm and now has offices in three additional locations: Cincinnati, Ohio, Columbia, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. He is also a frequent lecturer on topics like trial skills and ethics and technology.

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