A negligent security claim is a civil claim against the owner, manager or security company of a property for injuries caused by a crime that reasonable security measures could have helped prevent. It is a form of premises liability: the claim is not that the owner committed the crime, but that the owner’s failures made it possible.
Blank Kim Injury Law represents people hurt in assaults, robberies and other violent crimes at apartment complexes, hotels, parking garages and businesses across Northern Virginia. We work from our Fairfax office on Chain Bridge Road, which is open 24/7. Attorney Robert Kim speaks Korean, and our paralegal team speaks Spanish.
If you were just attacked
Your safety and health come before any legal claim. If you are in danger, call 911. Get medical care, even for injuries that seem minor, and report the crime to the police when you are ready.
If the attack was a sexual assault, the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline is available at 1-800-656-4673, and our sexual abuse and assault page explains the confidential help available. Talking with us does not require you to describe anything you are not ready to share.
Where negligent security claims arise
Any property open to tenants, guests or customers can be the setting. In Northern Virginia, the claims we see most often involve:
- Apartment and condominium complexes with broken entry doors, missing locks or unlit walkways
- Parking garages and surface lots near Tysons, Reston and Fairfax, where lighting or cameras have failed
- Hotels and short-term rentals. See hotel injury claims and Airbnb injury claims.
- Shopping centers, convenience stores and gas stations open late
- Bars, restaurants and nightlife venues where fights were foreseeable
- Transit stations and their garages. See Metro accident claims.
- Office buildings and campuses with unattended entrances
What Virginia law requires of property owners
In Virginia, property owners owe invitees, such as customers and guests, reasonable care: keeping the premises reasonably safe and warning of hidden dangers they knew or should have known about. That is the general premises rule behind slip and fall claims and other property injuries.
Crime by a third person is treated more cautiously. Virginia courts have generally been reluctant to make a property owner responsible for another person’s criminal act, and whether a duty to protect exists depends on the relationship between the owner and the injured person and on what the owner knew about the danger. That makes the facts, especially earlier incidents and warnings, the center of every Virginia negligent security case.
Other Virginia rules still apply. Insurers raise contributory negligence in security cases too, and the general deadline to file is two years under Va. Code § 8.01-243(A). If the property is owned by a county, city or town, written notice is generally due within six months. See our government claim notice guide.
Security failures that support a claim
Negligent security cases are built on specific, provable failures. The ones we look for include:
- Broken or missing locks on entry doors, gates and individual units
- Burned-out or inadequate lighting in garages, stairwells and walkways
- Security cameras that were broken, unmonitored or never installed
- Security guards who were promised but not provided, or who were poorly trained
- Access control failures, such as propped doors and unrestricted key fobs
- Ignored complaints from tenants or employees about suspicious activity
- A history of similar crimes on or near the property that the owner knew about
How negligent security is proven
The strongest evidence often belongs to the property owner and can disappear quickly. After a free case review, we move to preserve and collect:
- Surveillance video, or proof that the cameras were not working.
- Prior incident records, including police calls for service to the address, and the owner’s internal incident logs and tenant complaints.
- Maintenance and work orders for locks, gates and lighting.
- Security contracts and staffing records, showing what protection was promised and what was delivered.
- Lease terms and marketing, which sometimes promise security features the property did not have.
- The criminal case file, as the police investigation and any prosecution move forward.
A security consultant’s expert opinion can explain to a jury what reasonable security for that kind of property would have looked like.
The criminal case and the civil claim
A criminal prosecution and a civil negligent security claim are separate. The prosecution is brought by the Commonwealth against the attacker and aims at punishment. The civil claim is brought by you, usually against the property owner, manager or security company, and seeks compensation for your injuries.
You do not have to wait for an arrest or conviction to talk to a lawyer about the civil claim, and a civil claim can go forward even if the attacker is never identified. The two often run side by side, and evidence from the criminal case can help the civil one.
What a negligent security claim can include
Every claim is different, and no page can say what yours is worth. In general, a claim can seek compensation for medical care, including counseling and therapy; lost income; pain and emotional distress; and, when an attack is fatal, the losses covered by a Virginia wrongful death claim.
Injuries from violent crime are often serious, including traumatic brain injuries, and emotional harm such as post-traumatic stress can last longer than the physical injuries. Punitive damages, in the rare cases where conduct is especially reckless, are capped at $350,000 under Va. Code § 8.01-38.1.
