When you are attacked on someone else’s property, the person who hurt you is not always the only one responsible. If the owner knew the property was dangerous, could have prevented the crime with reasonable security, and did nothing, Florida law can hold that owner accountable too. That is a negligent security case, and it is some of the most demanding work in injury law.
Almost every negligent security case rises or falls on foreseeability, established through police reports and crime data, paired with proof that reasonable security was missing. Reading that record is exactly the work a criminal-courtroom background prepares me for.
When a property owner is responsible for a crime
The starting rule is that no one has a duty to protect you from another person’s crime. The exception, and it is a large one, arises from relationships the law recognizes: a business toward its customers, a landlord toward tenants, a hotel toward guests. In those settings the owner has a duty of reasonable care, and when a crime is foreseeable, reasonable care includes reasonable security. Fail at that, and the owner can share responsibility for what the criminal did.
This is the corner of injury law where my background matters most. I spent my career in criminal courtrooms, which means I read police reports, crime data, and arrest records in a way most injury lawyers never learn to, and I understand how crimes happen and how a property’s choices invite them. A negligent security case turns on exactly that: whether the crime was foreseeable and whether the owner ignored the warning signs, and that is the whole fight. I represent injured people, not insurance companies, and as a former public defender who tried numerous cases and cross-examined witnesses constantly, I am willing to take your case to a jury, which is often what moves an insurer to pay fair value. I handle your case personally, from the first call through trial, and I also represent victims of crime in the criminal courts, so I know the case my client is living through, not just the injury claim. I am a member of the National Association of Premises Liability Attorneys. Learn more about my background.
Foreseeability is the heart of the case
Almost every negligent security case rises or falls on foreseeability. Florida courts ask whether crime like the one that hurt you was predictable: whether similar crimes happened on or near the property before, how often, how recently, and how close. A property with a history of robberies or assaults the owner ignored is the classic case. Establishing that pattern, through police reports and crime data, is exactly the work my background prepares me for, and I cover it on foreseeability and prior crime.
Why the property owner, and not just the attacker
It is a fair question why a victim would sue the apartment complex, the store, or the hotel rather than the person who committed the crime, and the answer is both practical and legal. Legally, a property owner who invites people onto the premises has a duty to take reasonable steps to protect them from foreseeable criminal acts, a duty Florida courts have long recognized, including in cases like Hall v. Billy Jack’s, Inc., 458 So. 2d 760 (Fla. 1984). When an attack was foreseeable, from prior crimes or the surrounding circumstances, and reasonable security would have prevented or reduced it, the owner’s failure to provide that security is its own negligence, separate from the criminal’s act. Practically, there are usually two sources of recovery: the attacker, who is often never caught or has nothing to recover, and the property owner, who carries insurance. That is why the security claim, not the case against the criminal, is typically the real path to compensation for a victim, and why proving what the owner should have done matters so much.
The security that should have been there
Once a crime is foreseeable, the question becomes what reasonable security would have looked like and what the owner left undone. Working cameras, adequate lighting, functioning locks and gates, controlled access, and trained security or staff all come into it. The gap between what a careful owner would have done and what this owner in fact did is the breach at the center of the case.
The 2023 law does not end your case
Florida’s 2023 reforms gave some property owners a presumption against liability. It is narrower than owners like to suggest. The owner has to prove it substantially met a detailed list of security measures, the protection only reaches properties that earned it, and a property that skipped the cameras, the lighting, the locks, or the required assessment gets no shield at all. I explain how it works, and how it is overcome, on the HB 837 presumption.
Where these crimes happen
Negligent security cases cluster in a handful of settings, each with its own duties and its own proof.
| Setting | What the case turns on |
|---|---|
| Apartments and condos | Landlord duty, the multifamily security presumption, and prior crime on the property. |
| Parking lots and garages | Lighting, cameras, patrols, and access control in areas with known crime. |
| Bars and nightclubs | The duty to protect patrons from foreseeable violence, and adequate security staffing. |
| Gas stations and stores | The Convenience Business Security Act standards and the store presumption. |
| Hotels and motels | The innkeeper’s duty to guests, room and entry security, and surveillance. |
Each setting has a dedicated page below with the law and proof that apply to it.
The criminal case, and your rights as a victim
When the attacker is prosecuted, that criminal case runs alongside your civil claim but does not replace it. The criminal case punishes the offender; your civil case compensates you for what the property owner allowed. As the victim of a crime you may also have rights in that prosecution, and here is how I assert your rights as a crime victim under Marsy’s Law.
Deadlines
For an injury on or after March 24, 2023, Florida generally gives you two years to bring the negligence claim against the property owner under Fla. Stat. 95.11. A separate claim against the attacker for the assault or battery carries a longer four-year window. Crime scene evidence and video are often gone within weeks, so the real deadline for preserving proof comes long before the legal one.
These cases live and die on foreseeability, on showing that a property owner knew or should have known the danger and did not answer it with reasonable security, and that is the work I focus on. I gather the crime history, the conditions, and the security that was missing, and I hold the owner to the duty it owed the people it invited onto its property. I represent injured people and grieving families, not property owners or their insurers, and I build the case against the party whose choices left the door open to what happened.
Common Questions
Can I sue a property owner for a crime someone else committed?
Sometimes, yes. A property owner is not automatically responsible for a criminal's act, but Florida law can hold the owner liable when the crime was foreseeable and the owner failed to provide reasonable security. The claim is against the property, separate from any case against the attacker.
What makes a crime foreseeable?
Mainly prior crime. Florida courts look at whether similar crimes happened on or near the property before, how often, how recently, and how close by. A pattern of robberies or assaults the owner knew about, or should have known about, is what turns a tragedy into a foreseeable one the owner had a duty to guard against.
Doesn't the new apartment security law block these cases?
No. The 2023 law gives certain properties a presumption against liability, but only if the owner proves it substantially met specific security standards, and it raises the plaintiff's burden rather than ending the case. A property that cut corners on cameras, lighting, locks, or its required assessment gets no protection at all.
Does it matter whether the criminal was caught?
Not to your civil claim. Your case is against the property owner for failing to provide reasonable security, and it does not depend on whether the attacker is identified, arrested, or convicted. The criminal case and your civil claim are separate and answer different questions.
How long do I have to file?
Generally two years from the injury for the negligence claim against the property under Fla. Stat. 95.11, with a longer four-year window for a claim against the attacker. Because security video and records vanish quickly, it is best to act well before either deadline.
Related: How a Florida injury claim works, Apartment assaults and shootings, Parking lot and garage attacks, Bar and nightclub violence, Gas station and store crime, Hotel and motel failures, Foreseeability and prior crime, The HB 837 presumption, Premises liability, and Assault and sexual abuse in a nursing home.
This page is general information about Florida negligent security law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The governing authorities include Fla. Stat. 768.0706 (the multifamily residential presumption), 768.0705 with the Convenience Business Security Act (812.171 through 812.175), 768.81 (comparative negligence), and 95.11 (the limitations period), applied with Florida case law on a landowner’s duty regarding foreseeable third-party crime. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
