Those who have been injured and the families of those who have been killed due to a business or property owner failing to take adequate security measures may qualify to file a lawsuit and pursue financial compensation with the help of our experienced inadequate security lawyers.
A California negligent security attorney can help you with a negligent security-related injury case by investigating whether inadequate lighting, broken locks, absent security staff or non-functioning cameras may have contributed to your injury.
Our law firm evaluates negligent security cases tied to apartment complexes, hotels, short-term rentals, parking structures and other properties across California. Contact us or call us at (800) 718-4658 for a free case evaluation to discuss your potential legal options with a personal injury attorney.
Key Takeaways
- Negligent security lawsuits fall under California premises liability law. They hold property owners accountable when foreseeable harm occurs due to a lack of reasonable safety measures.
- Common examples of a failure to provide adequate security measures include broken locks, inadequate lighting, missing or broken security cameras and an absence of security personnel in high-crime areas.
- Negligent security cases can happen at various property types, such as apartments, hotels, short-term rentals, parking structures or nursing facilities.
- Compensation depends on individual case factors, including injury severity, the strength of liability evidence and the victim’s available insurance coverage.
- A lawyer can investigate a property’s crime history, collect surveillance footage and build a foreseeability argument which is crucial to win this kind of case.
- California law usually allows two years from the date of an injury to file a negligent security lawsuit. A six-month window usually applies to claims against government entities.
Table of Contents
- What Is Negligent Security?
- Who Qualifies to File a Negligent Security Lawsuit?
- Common Types of Negligent Security Cases
- Who Can Be Held Liable in a Negligent Security Case?
- How to Prove a Negligent Security Claim in California
- Types of Security Company Negligence
- Compensation in Negligent Security Cases
- How Long Do You Have to File a Negligent Security Claim?
- Protect Your Rights After a Negligent Security Incident
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Negligent Security?
Negligent security is a category of premises liability claims tied to the crime prevention obligations that property owners or managers hold.
Negligent security occurs when a property owner or manager fails to provide reasonable protective measures and that failure allows a foreseeable crime to injure a visitor, tenant or guest.
California’s statewide violent crime rate shows there is an expectation for security-related incidents to occur in the state, with overall violent crime arrests increasing by 3.6 percent from 2024 to 2025.
Some of the security failures that are most often at issue include the following:
- Broken or Malfunctioning Entry Gates
- Non-Functioning Security Cameras
- Unlit Stairwells and Parking Areas
- Unstaffed or Unmonitored Entrances
Who Qualifies to File a Negligent Security Lawsuit?
You may qualify to seek compensation through a negligent security lawsuit if you or a loved one:
- Was lawfully on a property
- Suffered an injury or death due to a criminal act
- Can show that the property owner failed to provide proper security
One of the key legal thresholds in these cases is foreseeability. California courts generally evaluate similar crimes at the property or in the surrounding area in order to determine if a property owner should have anticipated a risk.
Common Types of Negligent Security Cases
Negligent security claims typically follow a pattern of prior crime or complaints that the property owner or manager failed to address, often leading to resident injuries. Examples can include:
Apartment Complexes and Gated Communities
Negligent security incidents could occur at an apartment complex or gated community if the property managers or owners fail to protect residents from trespassers. Assaults or shootings linked to broken gates and locks, non-functioning call boxes or unlit common areas are some examples of incidents that could take place, among others.
Common areas at complexes such as laundry rooms and parking garages are common locations for negligent security to arise. Accidents in these locations and more could lead to an inadequate security lawsuit if a victim is injured due to a security issue.
Hotels and Motels
Attacks in hallways, elevators or parking lots connected to hazards such as unmonitored entrances, lock failure or insufficient lighting can all occur at hotels or motels, leading to injured guests.
Some hotel cases may also involve human trafficking claims that are tied to a property’s failure to identify and report known warning signs. A negligent security lawyer can help you determine what legal options are your best choices depending on the type of injuries you sustained at a hotel.
Airbnb and Short-Term Rental Properties
Negligent security may occur at Airbnbs and other short-term rental properties, leading to assaults, break-ins or other crimes related to a host’s failure to secure locks, gates, lighting or shared entry points.
Liability can extend to the host, a property manager or a third-party contractor, depending on who controlled the security failure that led to an Airbnb or short-term rental injury. Multiple parties could be found at fault due to California’s comparative negligence laws.
Parking Lots and Parking Garages
Poor lighting, blocked sightlines or the absence of security patrols are a few examples of negligent security issues that could occur at parking lots or in parking garages. Robberies and assaults may occur if safety measures aren’t in place or are inadequate.
Shopping Centers and Retail Stores
Inadequate loss prevention staffing or an unaddressed pattern of onsite crime are two examples of security negligence at shopping centers or retail stores. These gaps in security can lead to retail theft, parking lot robberies or other crimes that can cause injuries to shoppers and passersby.
Bars, Nightclubs and Event Venues
Insufficient staffing or failure to remove a known aggressive patron can lead to violent crime and other incidents at bars, nightclubs and event venues. These incidents can lead to injuries, some of which may be serious and lead to legal cases.
Schools, Daycare Facilities and College Campuses
Incidents at schools, daycare facilities and college campuses may be tied to unsecured entry points or failure to supervise access to the premises. Injury cases arising from negligent security at daycares often overlap with daycare injury claims if a facility fails to control who enters the property.
Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities
Assaults or elopement incidents may be tied to unsecured exits, unmonitored visitors or inadequate night staffing at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Related injuries can lead to nursing home abuse claims made by injury victims.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Negligent Security Case
There are several parties who may be held liable in a negligent security case, depending on the facts:
Property Owners
Property owners may be held liable for negligent security when they own premises where a foreseeable criminal act causes injury. Under California law, property owners have a duty to use reasonable care to keep their premises safe for customers, tenants and visitors.
Depending on the circumstances, this may include providing reasonable security measures such as installing adequate lighting, securing entrances and locks, hiring security personnel or taking other precautions when there is a foreseeable risk of criminal activity at a property.
Property Management Companies
Property management companies may be responsible for maintaining a location’s lights, locks, access controls or security systems, among other security elements. California law usually recognizes that property managers have a duty of care to keep areas under their control reasonably safe for tenants, customers and visitors. If they don’t, they could be held responsible in a negligent security suit.
A property manager’s responsibilities could include anything from identifying and addressing known security problems or maintaining security equipment to repairing broken locks and responding to safety reports. If a management company doesn’t carry out these responsibilities, and someone is injured because of a foreseeable criminal act, the company may be liable.
Third-Party Security Companies
If a third-party security company contracted to patrol, monitor or staff a property failed their duties, they may be held at least partially liable in a lawsuit. Negligent training or hiring, poor monitoring or understaffing issues may lead to poor security coverage by security officers due to poorly staffed areas, security slip-ups or inattentive staff, to name a few consequences.
These types of negligent security practices caused by third-party security companies can lead to injuries from assaults and other incidents that may occur when unauthorized individuals enter a property.
Business Tenants or Operators
Business tenants and operators who maintain control over a site could both be held liable for security-related injuries, at least in part. They typically have a legal obligation to implement protective measures when criminal activity is predictable. Security measures could include hiring security personnel or installing working locks, as examples.
Whether a tenant or operator could be seen as responsible in the eyes of California law depends on their level of property control and the strength of their security measures that eventually caused a security breach and related injuries.
Liability can also extend to more than one party at a time, depending on who controlled the security failure. A negligent security lawyer near you can assist you by gathering documents related to your case and helping to determine who might be at fault for your injuries.
How to Prove a Negligent Security Claim in California
A negligent security claim basically follows the same negligence determination process as any injury case. However, each element has to connect a specific security failure to a foreseeable crime instead of to a general hazard.
A plaintiff generally has to establish all five elements below. A gap in any one element could be where a claim is challenged:
Duty
It must be shown that the property owner or manager owed a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions for lawful visitors, tenants or guests. This duty usually comes from the owner’s control over the property.
Breach
If the owner failed to address a known or foreseeable security risk like a broken gate, a non-functioning camera or an unstaffed entrance, it may be found that they breached their duty of care. A breach usually means that the owner knew or should have known about the defect and didn’t fix it within a reasonable time.
Foreseeability
Prior similar crimes, police calls or complaints on or near the property establish that the risk was or should’ve been known. Foreseeability can be a highly contested element in personal injury cases, since it requires evidence tying the specific type of crime to the property’s history.
Causation
If a specific security failure directly enabled a criminal act that caused the injury, rather than the crime occurring regardless of the property’s condition, causation could be proven. This link connects the breach back to the injury, showing that the crime likely would not have happened, or would have unfolded differently, if the security measure had been in place.
Damages
If the victim suffered documented physical, emotional or financial harm from the incident, damages may be awarded in an injury lawsuit. The scale of assault injuries statewide reflects how often this type of harm requires ongoing medical treatment.
An inadequate security lawsuit typically relies on crime reports, prior incident logs, lease records and analysis by security experts to establish the five elements together and build a case against a property owner or manager.
Types of Security Company Negligence
Security guards rarely bear sole responsibility when they don’t do their job. Security companies are often to blame as well.
Security company negligence can involve:
Negligent Hiring
Security companies need to screen applicants prior to hiring them. They need to do meaningful background checks, verify required certifications or licenses, and review employment histories.
Applicants without verifiable qualifications, a history involving being fired for abandoning their post, or a prior violence conviction should not be hired to protect people.
Companies often skip doing due diligence on hires due to cutting corners, high turnover or understaffing. However, this can lead to harm occurring and negligent hiring claims being filed.
Negligent Supervision
Supervisors need to verify that their guards are present as well as diligent at their posts, appropriately escalating concerns, documenting incidents, completing logs, making their rounds and following their procedures and policies.
Harm can occur when companies don’t have a system for verifying these things.
Negligent Training
Security guards need to be taught about documenting incidents, communicating with law enforcement, recognizing and dealing with escalating threats, what to look for, and procedures and policies.
There are even greater training demands at specialized facilities such as schools and healthcare settings.
Guards must also be periodically re-trained.
Negligent Retention
Sometimes, security companies know that some guards are problems due to:
- Complaints in their file
- Failures to respond being documented
- Incident reports
- Prior instances of inattentive behavior
- Prior examples of abandoning a post
It is negligence when harm occurs because companies continue to employ guards despite the above warning signs.
Lack of Diligence
Examples of lack of diligence include:
- Zoning out
- Cellphone use
- Ignorance regarding the environment
- Ignorance regarding the prior history of the facility
- Improper conversation
- Poor record keeping
Abandoning a Post
Posts can be abandoned for many reasons, including:
- Long breaks that turn into extended periods away
- Guards physically walking off the job
- Leaving in order to run personal errands
Unprofessional Behavior by a Security Company
Security companies need to foster an alert, diligent culture.
Security companies should:
- Assess the security vulnerabilities of every client
- Have a competent document management system
- Have written post orders for guards
- Have a supervision system
- Clearly enforce post orders, procedures and policies
Security companies need to identify vulnerabilities, find ways to close them, and then create systems to ensure those vulnerabilities are constantly closed with diligence.
A failure to do the above things is unprofessional behavior which can give rise to a negligent security claim.
Compensation in Negligent Security Cases
The value of a negligent security case depends on injury severity, any medical treatment required, the strength of liability evidence and available insurance policy limits rather than a predictable formula.
Types of damages a claimant may be able to pursue include:
- Medical Expenses
- Lost Income Due to Injuries
- Pain and Suffering
- Wrongful Death Claims for Surviving Family Members
Every negligent security case depends on its specific facts, so no outcome can be predicted or promised in advance. Request a free case evaluation from Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers to discuss the specific facts of your case and to determine your possible legal options.
How Long Do You Have to File a Negligent Security Claim?
There are strict statutes of limitations regarding the filing of negligent security claims: most victims in California have two years from the date of the incident to file a lawsuit under CCP § 335.1.
However, if the incident occurred on government-owned property, California Government Code § 911.2 requires that you file a formal government tort claim within six months of the incident before any lawsuit can proceed in civil court.
Missing an applicable deadline usually prevents an injury victim from recovering compensation. Contact a California negligent security attorney early to preserve security footage, incident reports and witness statements, among other types of documents related to your case.
Protect Your Rights After a Negligent Security Incident
Our negligent security law firm helps injury survivors who were attacked or victimized due to security issues at hotels, apartment complexes, nursing homes and other properties where a reasonable duty of care was breached by a property owner or manager.
Contact us or call (800) 718-4658 for your free case evaluation. Our diligent and caring legal team can review your case and help you determine your potential legal options.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Sue a Security Company for Negligence?
Yes, a third-party security company might be held liable if its employees don’t follow standard safety protocols or ignore a known or foreseeable risk. Liability in a negligent security lawsuit usually depends on the specific contract terms and duties the security company held at that location.
What Are Some Examples of Negligent Security?
Examples of negligent security in California include:
- Broken or non-functional locks and gates at apartment buildings or hotels, which are common locations for incidents of negligent security
- Absent or inadequate lighting in parking areas, stairwells and building entryways
- Apartment complexes failing to prevent trespassers from harming residents
- Negligent security incidents can happen at hospitals, like when hospitals fail to protect patients
- Failure to hire or adequately supervise security at bars, nightclubs or high-volume venues
- Missing or broken surveillance cameras in areas that have known criminal activity
- Not responding to tenant complaints or prior incidents about safety conditions at a property
- A lack of perimeter fencing or access controls at a property in a high crime area
- An unlicensed or inadequately trained security guard contributing to an incident, since California Business and Professions Code § 7583.6 requires security guards to meet licensing standards
What Are Typical Negligent Security Settlement Amounts?
Claim settlement amounts in a negligent security case may vary widely based on elements like injury severity, medical costs, the strength of evidence and insurance policy limits.
Since every case depends on unique, specific facts, no prior case result can predict the value of a future claim. A negligent security attorney can help you determine possible compensation options after a case review.
