Orlando Negligent Security Lawyer

Orlando Negligent Security Lawyer Holding Property Owners Accountable for Preventable Violence

A violent crime on someone else's property is often the foreseeable result of broken gates, dark parking lots, and security promises nobody kept. When an owner ignores the warning signs, Florida law gives the victim a path to compensation.

At Louis Berk Law, we represent Central Florida victims of shootings, robberies, and assaults at apartment complexes, hotels, parking structures, shopping centers, and late-night businesses. Our negligent security results range from $350,000 to $2,100,000, and each one required proving what the owner knew and failed to fix.

Florida's 2023 tort reform changed these cases in three ways. The jury now weighs the criminal's fault, the filing deadline is shorter, and apartment owners have a new statutory presumption to defend with.

What Is a Negligent Security Claim in Florida?

A negligent security claim is a civil case against a property owner or operator whose failure to provide reasonable security allowed a foreseeable crime to injure a tenant, guest, or customer. It is a form of premises liability, the area of law covering dangerous conditions on property, and our premises liability practice handles the broader category.

The claim targets the property owner, not the attacker. The criminal answers for the crime in criminal court, while the owner answers in civil court for the security choices it made before the crime happened.

Every negligent security case rests on five parts, and we build proof for each one.

• Duty: the owner owed the injured person reasonable care, which depends on whether the person was a tenant, guest, or customer.
• Foreseeability: the type of crime was reasonably foreseeable given the property's history and surroundings.
• Breach: the security measures in place were unreasonable, missing, or broken.
• Causation: reasonable security would have prevented the crime or reduced the harm.
• Damages: the victim suffered measurable losses, from medical bills to lost income and pain.

When Is a Crime Foreseeable at a Property?

A crime is foreseeable when the owner knew, or should have known from past experience, of likely criminal conduct on or near the property. Florida law does not require knowledge of a specific attacker.

Courts look at prior incidents, police calls, tenant complaints, internal incident reports, and the character of the surrounding area. Florida's appellate courts have not applied foreseeability in exactly the same way. Some focus on prior similar crimes at the property, while others weigh the totality of the circumstances, so we shape the proof around the court where the case is filed.

Foreseeability also reaches beyond the property line. Crimes in the surrounding neighborhood, reports from nearby businesses, and the owner's own security spending all show what the owner understood about the risk. A property which hired guards after one incident and cut them later tells a jury a great deal about what the owner knew.

Our team requests police call logs, incident reports, security vendor contracts, and complaint records early. A property with a history of violent incidents and an ignored request for security guards presents a clear foreseeability record, as our commercial plaza case showed.

Where Negligent Security Claims Arise in Orlando

Negligent security claims arise wherever an owner invites the public onto property and controls its safety. In Orlando, five settings appear most often in our casework.

Apartment Complexes and Condominiums

Residents depend on perimeter gates, working cameras, and adequate lighting, and a violent crime after months of ignored repair requests points to owner fault. Our largest negligent security result, $2,100,000, came from an apartment shooting in which access gates and security cameras stayed broken for months despite repeated tenant warnings.

Hotels and Tourist Corridors

Hotels owe guests reasonable protection in hallways, entrances, and parking areas. Our hotel case near International Drive involved an armed robbery in unlit parking stalls at a property with a documented history of unaddressed criminal activity.

Parking Lots and Garages

Parking structures draw crime when they lack patrols, lighting, and working surveillance. We recovered $1,150,000 for a patron who suffered a traumatic brain injury and multiple facial fractures in an unmonitored parking structure at a downtown Orlando entertainment venue.

Shopping Centers and Convenience Stores

Retail properties owe customers reasonable security, particularly after repeated violent incidents. A late-night assault on Orange Blossom Trail turned on perimeter floodlights the owners never replaced, and we recovered $350,000 for the customer's fractured jaw and dental injuries.

Bars, Nightclubs, and Entertainment Venues

Venues serving crowds after dark need trained security, controlled entry, and safe exits. Altercations spilling into parking areas often raise questions about staffing, crowd control, and the response to earlier fights. We look at who staffed the door, how the venue handled intoxicated guests, and whether the lot was patrolled at closing time.

Security Failures We Investigate

We investigate every layer of a property's security, from physical hardware to staffing decisions. The failures below appear repeatedly in negligent security cases.

• Broken or propped-open access gates and door locks
• Inoperable, missing, or poorly placed surveillance cameras
• Burned-out or missing lighting in parking areas, stairwells, and walkways
• No security guards, or guards who are untrained or understaffed
• No patrols after dark in a high-crime area
• Ignored tenant complaints, police requests, and incident reports
• Poor screening or supervision of staff and contractors
• No change in security after earlier violent crimes

Each failure leaves a paper trail in work orders, maintenance logs, vendor contracts, and incident reports. Those records matter as much as the failure itself, because they show what the owner knew and when.

Florida's Multifamily Security Presumption Under §768.0706

Under §768.0706, an apartment or condominium owner has a presumption against liability for third-party crimes when the property substantially implements a list of required security measures. The statute covers multifamily residential property with at least five dwelling units on a single parcel.

The required measures include the following.

• Cameras at entry and exit points which keep footage for at least 30 days
• Lighting in parking lots, walkways, laundry rooms, and common areas, on from dusk to dawn
• A one-inch deadbolt on each unit door, and locks on windows and sliding doors
• Locked gates with key or fob access at pool fences
• Peepholes or door viewers on unit doors without an adjacent window

The owner must also complete a crime prevention through environmental design assessment, performed by a law enforcement agency or a designated practitioner, and train its employees in crime deterrence and safety.

The owner carries the burden of proving it substantially implemented these measures. A gate which stayed broken for months is difficult to call substantial implementation, and maintenance records usually show whether a measure worked in practice. We start every apartment case by requesting camera retention records, gate repair history, lighting logs, and any security assessment.

The statute creates no new cause of action, so the claim still rests on Florida negligence law. The presumption changes what the owner must prove, not what the victim must show to establish the owner's negligence.

How Florida's 2023 Tort Reform Changed Negligent Security Cases

Florida's 2023 tort reform, House Bill 837, changed three rules for negligent security claims filed after March 24, 2023. Each one affects how we prepare a case from the first week.

The Jury Now Weighs the Criminal's Fault

Under §768.0701, the jury in a claim against a property owner, lessor, operator, or manager must consider the fault of all persons who contributed to the injury, including the criminal. Owners now ask juries to assign a large share of blame to the attacker, which lowers the percentage the owner pays.

A criminal's share is often impossible to collect, so proof of the owner's own failures decides how much a victim recovers. We build the owner's knowledge record with this risk in mind.

More Than 50 Percent at Fault Bars Recovery

Under §768.81(6), a person found greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm recovers nothing in a negligence action. Defense teams use this rule to argue the victim ignored obvious danger, such as walking through a dark lot or confronting an attacker.

We prepare the victim's timeline and the scene evidence to answer this argument before the defense raises it.

Medical Expenses Are Proven Differently

Under §768.0427, evidence of medical expenses is limited to the amounts paid or owed under the person's health coverage, with separate rules when there is no coverage. For a victim with a long recovery, early and detailed documentation of future care is now one of the most important parts of the case.

Who Is Liable in a Negligent Security Case

Liability follows control over the property and its security, and several parties often share it.

• Property owners and landlords, who control the premises and major repairs
• Property management companies, who handle daily maintenance and security vendors
• Security contractors, whose negligent performance of their hired duties creates liability of its own
• Business tenants and operators, such as hotels, stores, and venues, which control their own entrances and lots

Shared liability matters because each party carries its own insurance. Naming every responsible party widens the coverage available to pay for a long recovery and future care.

Claims against government-owned property follow special notice rules under §768.28, so we identify the true owner at the start of every case.

What Compensation Is Available After a Violent Crime on Someone's Property

A negligent security victim seeks compensation for every loss the crime caused. The categories below apply in most of our cases.

• Emergency care, surgery, hospital stays, and rehabilitation
• Future medical care, including additional surgeries and therapy
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
• Pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life
• Psychological trauma, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression
• Disfigurement and permanent impairment

Violent crime often causes lasting harm. Our results include gunshot wounds with abdominal organ injuries, traumatic brain injury with facial fractures, orbital fractures with lasting psychological trauma, and orthopedic and nerve damage.

Psychological harm deserves the same attention as physical injury. Survivors of armed robberies and shootings often live with anxiety, sleep disruption, and fear of returning to ordinary places, and we document these losses through treating mental health providers.

Victims with head trauma often need our brain injury team, and victims with permanent disability fall under our catastrophic injury practice.

Statute of Limitations for Negligent Security Claims in Florida

A negligent security claim must be filed within two years under §95.11(5)(a) for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023. A wrongful death claim also carries a two-year deadline under §95.11(5)(e).

Claims against a city, county, or state agency require written notice before suit under §768.28, and the notice rules run on their own clock. We confirm the owner's identity and the correct deadline in the first review.

Evidence expires faster than the deadline. Surveillance video is among the first evidence lost, because systems record over old footage on a set schedule. We send preservation demands for video, access logs, and incident reports within days of being hired.

Witnesses disappear as well. Tenants move out, guards change jobs, and memories fade, which is why a prompt review protects the case.

Orlando Negligent Security Case Results

Five of our negligent security results range from $350,000 to $2,100,000, and each followed a different security failure. The table below summarizes them.

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Across these results, the pattern is the same. The owner knew about the problem, the fix was within its control, and the victim paid for the delay.

Every negligent security case turns on its own facts, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Review more of our work on our case results page.

How Owners and Insurers Defend Negligent Security Claims

Owners and insurers defend these claims by arguing the crime was unforeseeable, the security was reasonable, or the victim shares the blame. We prepare for each argument before filing suit.

"The crime was unforeseeable." The defense points to a lack of identical prior incidents. We answer with police call history, tenant complaints, and the owner's own incident reports.

"We had security measures in place." We test whether the cameras recorded, the gates locked, the lights worked, and the guards patrolled on the date of the crime. A system which exists on paper but does not work protects no one.

"The criminal is to blame." Under §768.0701, the jury weighs the criminal's fault, and we answer by showing the owner's share through its own records.

"The victim was careless." The 50 percent bar makes this defense serious, so we document the victim's actions and the conditions around them in detail.

Insurers also seek recorded statements early. Speak with an attorney before you give one.

What to Do After a Violent Crime on Someone Else's Property

After a violent crime, get medical care first, report the crime to police, and document the property's condition before anyone repairs it.

1. Get medical care and follow through. Keep every appointment, because treatment records prove the full extent of your injuries.
2. Report the crime to police. Ask for the report number and a copy of the report.
3. Photograph the scene when it is safe. Capture gates, locks, lighting, cameras, and signage, since owners often repair them within days.
4. Save every complaint and notice. Texts, emails, and letters about security problems show what the owner knew.
5. Write down names and a timeline. Note witnesses, security staff, and what you saw and heard while memory is fresh.
6. Do not give a recorded statement or sign a release. Speak with an attorney first, because insurer questions serve the defense.

Avoid posting about the crime or the property on social media. Defense teams review public posts, and a casual comment is easy to misread.

When a Negligent Security Case Becomes a Wrongful Death Claim

When a violent crime on someone else's property kills the victim, the estate's personal representative brings a wrongful death claim under Florida's Wrongful Death Act for the surviving family. The same negligent security proof applies, and the deadline is two years under §95.11(5)(e).

Our wrongful death team handles these claims alongside the negligent security case, with care for the family's grief and financial needs.

How Louis Berk Law Handles Negligent Security Cases

We handle negligent security cases by preserving the evidence first, building the owner's knowledge record, and pricing the full cost of recovery before we negotiate. Attorney Louis Berk reviews every case personally.

This work includes investigators, security experts, and treating physicians, along with a review of the property's complaint history, vendor contracts, and maintenance records. We take negligent security cases on a contingency fee, which means no fee unless we win.

Our bilingual team, including our Spanish-speaking attorney services, represents Central Florida's Spanish-speaking victims as well.

Disclaimer: This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different. For advice about your specific situation, contact a licensed attorney. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.