After a sexual assault, everyone points the survivor toward one process: the criminal case against the attacker. That case matters, and I will come back to it. But there is a second case that almost nobody mentions, and for many survivors it is the one that actually rebuilds a life: a civil claim against the property owner whose security failures made the attack possible. This page explains that claim plainly, because you deserve to know it exists before any deadline decides it for you.
Why the property owner, and not only the attacker
A civil judgment against an individual attacker is usually worth the paper it is printed on. Most attackers have no meaningful assets, and no insurance policy covers intentional crimes committed by the policyholder. The property owner is different. A hotel, apartment complex, parking garage, gym, or shopping center carries commercial liability insurance, and Florida law has long required businesses to use reasonable care to protect the people they invite onto their property from foreseeable crime.
The legal question is not whether the owner committed the assault. It is whether the owner knew, or should have known, that this property carried a real risk of violent crime and failed to take reasonable steps: working locks and gates, adequate lighting, functioning cameras, controlled access, trained staff, or security patrols appropriate to the risk. When the answer is yes, the owner shares legal responsibility for what happened.
Foreseeability does not require a prior sexual assault
Owners and their insurers love to argue that nothing like this ever happened before. Florida courts look at the question more sensibly: the history of violent crime on and around the property, not only identical crimes. Prior robberies, batteries, break-ins, and prowler calls all speak to whether violence was foreseeable at this location. The proof lives in records the owner does not volunteer: police calls-for-service to the address, incident reports the property kept for itself, security assessments, and the staffing and maintenance files that show what the owner knew and what it spent. I cover how that history gets proven on the foreseeability page.
Where these cases arise
| Setting | What the case examines |
|---|---|
| Hotels and motels | Room lock and key-card records, hallway cameras, who was allowed past the desk, and staff response to complaints. |
| Apartment communities | Broken gates and locks, dark common areas, tenant complaints that went unanswered, and the multifamily security presumption. |
| Parking lots and garages | Lighting, cameras, patrol coverage, and prior crime in an enclosed space people cannot avoid. |
| Bars and clubs | Overservice, staffing, ejection practices, and what happened in the parking lot afterward. |
| Workplaces and gyms | Access control, after-hours security, and screening of the people given keys and codes. |
Bringing the case without reliving it publicly
The fear of public exposure keeps many survivors from ever calling a lawyer, so let me address it directly. Florida courts can permit a survivor to proceed under a pseudonym in appropriate cases, protective orders can restrict how discovery is used, and many of these cases resolve confidentially without a public trial. Just as important, a records-first case is built on the owner’s files, the crime history, the staffing logs, the camera coverage, before it ever asks more of you. You control the pace. My job includes protecting your privacy as fiercely as your claim.
The criminal case runs alongside, not instead
The State prosecutes the attacker; your civil case holds the property accountable. A conviction helps but is not required, and neither is an arrest, because the civil case answers a different question under a lower burden of proof. As a crime victim you also have rights in the prosecution itself, including notice, the right to be heard, and privacy protections under Florida’s victim rights amendment. I explain how the two cases feed each other on the criminal case page.
Deadlines
The safe assumption is that the negligence claim against the property owner must be filed within two years. Longer windows can apply in specific situations, especially where the survivor was a child, and the claim against the attacker personally follows different rules, so the only safe move is to have the deadlines mapped for your exact facts early. Evidence has its own clock too: video systems record over themselves in days or weeks, and a preservation letter should go out immediately.
Why this is my kind of case
I spent my early career as an Assistant Public Defender in Tampa reading crime files every day: police reports, calls-for-service, witness statements, the anatomy of how violence happens at a place. A negligent security case is that same material read in reverse, toward what the owner should have seen coming. Very few injury lawyers have lived inside criminal records the way I have, and in these cases that fluency is the difference between a general negligence claim and a reconstruction the insurer cannot wave away. Learn more about my background.
The book
Hurt on Someone Else’s Property
My plain-English book on Florida premises cases has a full chapter on negligent security: what property owners owe you, the records that prove what they knew, and the evidence race that starts the day you are hurt. Free to Tampa Bay residents, with the digital edition to read the moment you ask.
Common Questions
Can I sue if my attacker was never caught or convicted?
Yes. The civil claim against the property owner does not require an arrest, a prosecution, or a conviction. It asks whether the owner failed to use reasonable care against foreseeable crime, and it is decided on the greater weight of the evidence, a lower standard than the criminal case.
Will my name become public if I bring a claim?
Not necessarily. Florida courts can allow survivors to proceed under a pseudonym in appropriate circumstances, protective orders can limit how sensitive information is used, and many cases resolve confidentially. Privacy planning is part of the case strategy from day one.
Does the property need a history of sexual assaults specifically?
No. Florida courts consider the property’s history of violent crime generally, along with conditions like lighting, access control, and staffing, when deciding whether an attack was foreseeable. Robberies, batteries, and prowler calls all count toward the picture.
What compensation can a survivor recover?
Medical and counseling costs, lost income, and the human losses: pain, trauma, and the way the assault changed daily life. Every case is different, and no honest lawyer promises numbers, but the claim exists precisely because these losses are real and lasting.
What should I do first?
Get safe and get care, and when you are ready, preserve what exists: photographs, messages, names of witnesses, and the exact location. Then talk to a lawyer quickly, because the property’s cameras record over themselves and a preservation letter needs to go out before that evidence disappears.
Related: Negligent security overview, Foreseeability and prior crime, Hotel and motel security failures, Your attacker’s criminal case, and About Rory Safir.
Free guide No. 23
Attacked on Someone Else’s Property
The civil case nobody tells crime victims they have: foreseeability, the apartment presumption, the evidence race, and the deadlines, in plain English. Free, and one request unlocks the whole Safir Guides library.
This page is general information about Florida negligent security law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Foreseeability and causation in Florida negligent security claims are governed by case law, including Sanders v. ERP Operating Ltd. Partnership, 157 So. 3d 273 (Fla. 2015), applied with Fla. Stat. 768.81 and 95.11. The duty arises from special relationships recognized in Florida tort law. 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.
