When Can You Sue for Negligent Security?

You can sue for negligent security when a property owner fails to provide adequate security measures, resulting in your harm or injury on the premises. If you or a loved one have been a victim of violence, whether on publicly or privately owned properties, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Schedule a free consultation with a negligent security lawyer to discover how you can secure a substantial settlement for damages and emotional distress.

What Is Negligent Security?

Negligent security is a premises liability claim that holds negligent property owners and other parties who fail to maintain secure premises with reasonable measures, leading to harm or injury due to foreseeable criminal activity. That means the property owner knew or should have known about the potential for security risks and criminal activity. Victims of crimes that occur due to negligent security often suffer devastating physical injuries, disability, psychological trauma, pain and suffering, and other damages.

Types of Negligent Security

A property owner’s failure to provide sufficient safety measures on their premises can lead to numerous types of negligent security issues and criminal activity, resulting in injuries and damage. State laws recognize many types or categories of negligent security claims involving foreseeable dangers, such as criminal attacks, aggravated or sexual assaults, unarmed or armed robberies, and homicides. Common examples of negligent security are as follows:

• Broken or malfunctioning locks and unsecured doors
• Malfunctioning or lack of security systems
• Insufficient or poor lighting
• Lack of video surveillance systems and footage
• Lack of security guards or personnel
• Lack of adequate training of security guards or personnel
• Failure to warn of known dangers in the area
• Failure to address known security hazards
• Blocked or lack of sufficient emergency exits
• Unsecured fences or gates

Proving the foreseeability of property owners and other parties can be daunting, requiring substantial evidence and investigation. This is where a negligent security lawyer becomes your ally. They assist in collecting, preserving, and analyzing the evidence of negligent security claims alongside experts relevant to your case. Expert witness testimony can significantly strengthen your case and increase your chances of a successful negligent security claim, providing the support you need during this challenging time.

Where Does Negligent Security Occur?

Negligent security issues arise from various premise types, including commercial, residential, and public or government properties. However, some venues are more susceptible to criminal activity than others, especially those lacking security staff, cameras, and other safety measures. Negligent security injuries and fatalities can happen at properties, including the following: 

• Restaurants and eateries
• Bars and nightclubs
• Concerts, sports parks, and other entertainment venues
• Hotels and resort casinos
• Gas stations and truck stops
• Retailers, grocers, and shopping centers
• Schools and universities
• Hospitals and medical centers
• Banks and business plazas
• Parks and playgrounds
• Parking garages and lots
• Factories and workplaces
• Homes and apartment complexes

It’s crucial to seek legal advice if you’ve been a victim of negligent security. You have a reasonable expectation of safety when you are legally allowed on a property—whether you are a patron at a restaurant or entertainment venue, a customer at a shopping center, a resident in a rental property, an employee at your place of employment, or a guest in someone’s home. If you sustained injuries due to negligent property owners, consult a negligent security lawyer immediately. They can provide sound legal advice and much-needed peace of mind for victims who need to focus on medical treatments and mental health services.

When Can You Sue for Negligent Security?

You can sue for negligent security when evidence is sufficient enough to demonstrate the elements of negligence necessary to hold property owners and other parties liable for your injuries and damages. Establishing negligence means proving that the at-fault party owed you a duty of care, such as maintaining safe premises. It also means showing how they breached that duty by not providing adequate safety measures. Next, you must demonstrate how the breach is directly responsible for the injury or harm you suffered and that it caused actual damages, such as medical bills, income losses, and pain and suffering. An attorney can prove negligence on your behalf.

Who Can You Sue for Negligent Security?

The criminal attacker is not the defendant in a negligent security claim. They typically are the defendant in a criminal case brought by authorities, where they may face fines and imprisonment. Civil negligent security claims are generally filed against the property owner and their insurance companies. However, there are negligent security cases involving other at-fault entities and can include multiple defendants. Other potentially liable parties when suing for negligent security include the following:

• Property Managers: Property management companies and managers have a duty to maintain premises in reasonably safe conditions. Failure to assess, warn, and protect visitors from foreseeable risks, including criminal acts, can make them liable.
• Landlords: Landlords are generally property owners. However, they have responsibilities when leasing property to tenants that are worth noting separately. For example, landlords must maintain common areas, such as parking lots, courtyards, and stairwells. They can be liable when they neglect to provide sufficient lighting in communal areas or fix broken locks, allowing an attacker to gain access.
• Commercial Businesses: Businesses leasing commercial spaces are responsible for maintaining safe premises and can be liable when customers and employees are attacked due to negligent security issues. Commercial businesses include offices, shopping outlets, stores, and restaurants.
• Security Companies: When businesses or property owners hire security contractors or companies who fail to maintain safe premises, those companies can also be liable for injuries and damage. Negligence includes inadequate training, ineffective surveillance, and a lack of safety responses to known security risks or threats.

Government entities or municipalities, like state agencies, are sometimes at fault in negligent security cases. Examples of places where negligent security can make the government liable include parking garages, public pools, parks, and roadways. When negligent security arises in government buildings, municipalities are held accountable. These buildings include public libraries, courthouses, city halls, state capitols, and federal buildings, like passport and immigration offices.

Compensation Amounts When You Sue for Negligent Security

Depending on the circumstances, several types of damages can be recovered or compensated for after an injury in a negligent security incident. They fall into two primary categories: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are the financial losses incurred, whereas non-economic damages account for the intangible losses.

Factors including insurance policy limits, the extent of negligence, the severity of your injuries, your needs for long-term care, and the overall impact of injuries on daily tasks and work-related activities influence compensation amounts. Damages negligent security attorneys assess include:

• Medical Expenses: Healthcare costs for emergency, surgical, general, and rehabilitation care are covered. Proper documentation of all associated expenses, including medical equipment, devices, prescriptions, copays, and insurance deductibles, is required. 
• Mental Health Care: Treatments, therapy sessions, workbooks, and medications for depression, anxiety, social isolation, and developing mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are all compensable damages.
• Long-Term Needs: The ongoing or long-term medical care needs and associated expenses can be assessed and calculated in compensation demands. Negligent security lawyers collaborate with physicians, medical experts, occupational therapists, and life care planners to determine long-term care needs. 
• Lost Earnings: Depending on profession type and benefits, missed work causes lost earnings, including wages, salaries, tips, overtime, and commissions. You may seek compensation for lost sick or vacation pay, paid time off, healthcare benefits, and retirement or pension packages.
• Diminished Earning Capacity: Negligent security attorneys work alongside vocational experts to determine diminished earning capacity when injuries impose functional limitations or prohibit your ability to work at the job you had before the incident or to work at all.  
• Pain and Suffering: Pain and suffering damages compensate for the intangible losses injuries impose. These include injury symptoms such as numbness, tingling, dizziness, pain, and headaches. Sleep disturbances, fear, anger, and other feelings of emotional distress are also compensable. 
• Decreased Quality of Life: Injuries that reduce enjoyment in life due to long-term consequences can recover compensation for a decreased quality of life. These damages account for the limited or inability to perform basic care needs or participate in activities, hobbies, sports, and other social functions.
• Loss of Consortium: Another intangible damage you can pursue compensation for is a loss of consortium. It pays for the relationship benefits that injuries and disabilities cause, such as companionship, love, physical affection, intimacy, guidance, support, and assistance.
• Disfigurement or Disability: Injuries resulting in permanent impairments, such as scarring, disfigurement, amputations, and hearing or vision losses, can recover compensation for these non-economic losses. 

Wrongful death benefits can also be pursued when a loved one is killed due to negligent security. These cover the costs of funerals and burials, as well as final healthcare expenses. Depending on the nature of the relationship with the decedent, claimants may seek compensation for the loss of parental guidance, financial support, consortium, household services (chores and child-rearing), and inheritance. Your pain and suffering and the conscious pain and suffering of the victim from the date of injury to death are also compensable losses.

How Negligent Security Lawyers Help You Sue for Negligent Security

A significant benefit of negligent security attorneys is their offer of free consultations. During these initial meetings, lawyers can review the specifics of your situation to determine the best legal action for your case. While they can sue for negligent security to secure compensation, these cases typically begin as insurance claims. Negligent security attorneys can thoroughly assess your unique circumstances during your free consultation and legally advise how to proceed to secure your desired outcome.

Works on a Contingency Fee Basis

Negligent security lawyers (most) work on a contingency fee basis, meaning their fees are contingent on winning your case. Injured parties don’t usually owe anything when attorneys are unsuccessful in securing a settlement. They also aren’t required to pay any money out-of-pocket or upfront to hire legal representation. Contingency arrangements allow anyone to obtain a legal professional to handle all aspects of their case, creating time to maintain medical treatment plans and therapy appointments.

Conducts Thorough Investigations

The sooner you retain an attorney, the quicker they can start investigating, which is necessary for building strong cases. Prompt evidence collection is pertinent before it is lost, damaged, or destroyed. Negligent security lawyers request video surveillance from security systems showing the incident, police reports, and witness statements, validating your personal accounting and the physical evidence in the case. Their investigation identifies all liable parties to ensure accountability and full compensation.

Negotiates for Fair Settlements

Insurance companies are not forthcoming with fair settlements from the start. You want the experience and negotiation skills of a negligent security attorney fighting for your right to reasonable compensation. Insurers commonly delay claims to frustrate claimants with mounting medical bills and other losses so that when they send low first offers, claimants accept them. Another tactic they employ is blaming injured parties to negate liability.

Insurance claims adjusters frequently challenge medical treatments and dismiss injury symptoms as pre-existing. An experienced negligent security lawyer prepares for these well-known practices and demands insurers pay you what they owe you and what you deserve for your experience, injuries, and damages.

Represents Clients in Courtroom Litigation

Negligent security attorneys take their fight for justice to court when insurance companies refuse to settle claims reasonably. They start by filing a civil lawsuit before entering pre-trial motions. Further negotiations continue behind the scenes, and most cases are resolved without litigation. However, a lawyer presents the evidence and argues your case before a judge and jury when cases go to trial. This can include reconstructing the incident with specialists to help clarify the circumstances, calling expert witnesses to provide invaluable testimony, and cross-examining defense witnesses.

Speak to an Experienced Negligent Security Attorney Now

Don’t delay seeking a free legal assessment of your claim. States impose statutes of limitations and regulations that cannot be challenged later. Schedule a free consultation with an experienced negligent security lawyer to discuss the merits of your case. You’ll want to explore what a personalized legal strategy for securing a financial settlement looks like for your claim—including case timeline, potential compensation amounts, and possible outcomes.