Celebrity Justice
"Exorcist" Director Alarmed -- "I Been Robbed!"

The "Exorcist" director and the former Prez of Paramount Pictures have sued ADT Security Services, claiming the company made them "unwitting targets for home invasion."
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According to the suit, filed today in Los Angeles County Superior Court, William Friedkin and Sherry Lansing entered into a contract with ADT for their home in Bel-Air, a posh area of L.A. They say they made the deal because ADT represented that it "makes your home 3 times less likely to be burglarized."

According to the suit, last December, while the couple was on holiday outside the country, the alarm sounded. They claim it took ADT one hour and forty-five minutes for a patrolman to arrive. The suit alleges the patrolman came and went, without investigating or notifying the cops or the couple.

The lawsuit says the next morning, the housekeeper arrived and found the alarm was still blaring (or in Friedkin's case, Blair-ing). She found a stepladder perched beneath the second balcony. Broken glass was littered all over the place. The suit goes on to say "drawers in the bedroom and bathroom (were) left open and their contents strewn about."

The suit claims the thieves "stole jewelry that had significant amounts of value. Much of the jewelry was unique and irreplaceable." The couple's house was hit during in the middle of a rash of Bel Air break-ins.

The couple is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Reader Comments

(Page 4 of 4) Previous 15 Comments

46. ADT is only a monitoring company. They are not responsible for the response time of the Police, Fire or Medical ER teams. If it took 1 hour and 45 mintues for the police to respond, that is an issue for the attorney to take up with the city of Los Angeles.

I have ADT and the response is actually sometimes too fast. I have accidentally set off the alarm only to find my cell phone ringing within moments or to have the the central office insisting on my password through the control box within seconds. I once hit the medical emergency button in the dark and when they couldn't get ahold of my contact number dispatched the EMR within 15 minutes of the accident, I had police and EMR banging on my front door.

It all depends on where you live as the type of protection you get from your govt agencies (police, fire, ambulance).

Posted at 6:04PM on Aug 30th 2007 by Chilly

47. From what I read in articles, the family contracted for ADT's patrol services, to be provided by ADT personnel. Yes, they could have also installed monitored cameras, but theives who challenge alarms will find a way around them. Theives can locate & steel the recorder and/or cut off the electricity first, (and phone line) rendering the camera's monitoring ability useless!! Should this occur, an AC power loss signal would have been received via cell back up (if they had one) and upon receiving an AC power loss signal, a different (and perhaps swifter) response would have applied,providing there were notes on the account at the centeral station. If only the family could access the monitoring stations records regarding that night, they could possibly detect absolute flaws in ADT's response. (?) But ADT is very secretive and would NEVER admit they were in the wrong or release that information. This well known family probably was targeted because they were out of town and the theives knew it. (Loose lips sink ships) Yes, a house sitter would have been the best deterent. Had this family choose a better alarm company who is concerned more about quailty over quantity would have been more thorough and realistic and would have provided better advise, including suggesting installing some outdoor perimeter protection. Well placed PE beams would have detected the theives silently. By the way, ADT will hire anyone off the street with NO security experience. I'm curious how much experienced their parataicular salesperson had. If I was their salesperson, I would have advised them to call the monitoring station and tdo put their alarm on HIGH ALERT. Meaning if an alarm signal is received (ANY signal inclulding AC power loss) to contact the police instead, because they were at a higher risk when they left the country. I'm so sorry this family had to experience this horrible event. I hope they win their case. ADT needs to live up to its promisses or quit making them.

Posted at 1:26AM on Nov 8th 2007 by Former employee

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