
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 3, 1994                   TAG: 9401030060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Medium

MORE RAPE VICTIMS SUE LANDLORDS OVER SECURITY

Rape victims increasingly are fighting back, not only against their attackers but also against property owners they feel could have prevented attacks through better security.

LauraLee Foley, for example, wants to sue the management of a suburban apartment complex where she lived in 1989. She was raped there after she answered a knock at the door.

"This incident should not have happened," Foley said. Only after her lawyer obtained police reports did she learn the Carol Stream apartment complex had a history of violence, including assaults, robberies, muggings and burglaries.

She believes simple measures such as an adequate peephole or a chain lock could have saved her.

After the attack, the same man returned to the apartment complex and raped and stabbed another woman. That man was convicted in Foley's attack in March.

A seminar on rape lawsuits held in Atlanta in November drew 200 lawyers from throughout the nation, said Corey Gordon, founder and co-chairman of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America Inadequate Security Group.

Gordon noted that only five years ago, a similar seminar was canceled for lack of business.

"It's clear around the country that premises liability cases are increasing," said Daniel Kennedy, a professor and criminologist at the University of Detroit.

Foley's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, who specializes in women's issues, said such cases are becoming a major part of her practice.

Foley discovered her civil option only after she was asked to be a witness in another woman's lawsuit against the building management.

By then, the two-year statute of limitations had expired, but Zellner said she hopes to prove that Foley was psychologically incapacitated and unable to file a lawsuit on time.

by CNB