California Negligent Security Lawyer
In California, a negligent security claim is a type of premises liability claim. It asks whether the owner, landlord, manager or business in control of a property failed to take reasonable security measures against a foreseeable crime, and whether that failure contributed to someone being hurt by another person’s criminal act, such as an assault, robbery or sexual assault. A crime on a property does not by itself make the owner liable. These claims turn on duty, foreseeability, breach, causation and damages, and each depends on the specific facts.
Call (310) 288-3000 for a free, no-obligation consultation with Saeedian Law Group. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Negligent security is a narrower question than a claim against the person who committed the crime. The attacker can be sued directly, and our page on civil claims for violent crime victims covers those broader remedies. This page covers a separate question: when a property owner, operator or manager can share responsibility because inadequate security contributed to a foreseeable attack. Like other premises liability claims, it focuses on how the property was run and maintained. Saeedian Law Group represents people hurt in attacks at apartment complexes, parking structures, shopping centers, bars and nightclubs, hotels, convenience stores and other properties across California.
Our office handles the investigation these cases require: pulling prior-crime data from local law enforcement, subpoenaing property-owner incident reports, reviewing security-contract scope and performance, retaining premises-security experts with police or military backgrounds, and deposing property managers, guards, and regional loss-prevention officers. When the evidence supports it, we file in superior court and prepare for trial.
A negligent-security case is not simply a criminal case with civil-law dressing. The criminal prosecution, if any, asks whether the perpetrator committed a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The civil case asks whether the property possessor, by failing to take reasonable precautions given what it knew or should have known, materially contributed to making the attack possible. Those are different questions, decided on different evidence, under different burdens of proof. A survivor can recover in the civil matter even when the criminal case never resulted in a conviction.
What Must Be Proven in a California Negligent Security Claim
These cases are decided on their facts. In plain terms, a claimant generally has to show five things.
Duty. The defendant owned, leased, occupied, controlled or managed the property, or was responsible for the security function at issue, as a security contractor might be. The law then asks whether that relationship created a duty to take protective steps. Courts decide that question, and business owners, landlords and hotels can have that kind of relationship with their patrons, tenants and guests (Delgado v. Trax Bar & Grill (2005) 36 Cal.4th 224; Brown v. USA Taekwondo (2021) 11 Cal.5th 204).
Foreseeability. This is highly fact-specific, and the standard depends on the security measure the claimant says should have been taken. For costly measures such as hiring security guards, the California Supreme Court requires a high degree of foreseeability, which it said can rarely be shown without prior similar violent incidents on the property (Ann M. v. Pacific Plaza Shopping Center (1993) 6 Cal.4th 666). Simpler, inexpensive measures can be required on a lesser showing (Delgado v. Trax Bar & Grill (2005) 36 Cal.4th 224). In Vasquez v. Residential Investments, Inc. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 269, for example, a wrongful death claim was allowed to proceed where the landlord had not replaced a missing pane of glass in an apartment’s front door, a low-cost repair. A business that sees violence unfolding may also have to take minimal steps, such as calling 911, even without earlier incidents (Morris v. De La Torre (2005) 36 Cal.4th 260). So a prior identical crime is not always required, but general crime statistics for the surrounding area are usually not enough on their own.
Breach. Whether the security in place was reasonable depends on the circumstances: the kind of property, what the owner knew, and which precautions were realistic. A jury decides whether the steps taken were adequate.
Causation. The claimant must connect the security failure to the injury with real evidence rather than speculation, showing that it is more likely than not the attack would not have happened without the failure (Saelzler v. Advanced Group 400 (2001) 25 Cal.4th 763). This is often the hardest part of the case.
Damages. The person must have suffered legally compensable harm, such as medical costs, lost income, or physical and emotional injury.
Property owners are not insurers of everyone’s safety. A crime on the property is where the analysis starts, not where it ends.
Your Rights After a California Negligent Security Attack
California law recognizes that owners of property open to the public or occupied by tenants do not become guarantors of safety — but they are required to respond reasonably to foreseeable risks. When a property has a history of violent crime, reports of gang activity, broken security hardware, untrained or understaffed guards, or disabled CCTV, the failure to remediate those conditions can expose the owner to civil liability for the criminal acts of a third party. Claims involving public-entity property (transit stations, public housing, parks) follow a separate claim process with a much shorter deadline.
You have the right to:
- Sue the property owner and operator for failure to provide reasonable security.
- Pursue a private security company whose guards failed to act or failed to deter.
- Name the property manager and the leasing agent who had day-to-day control.
- Bring a Government Claims Act claim within 6 months for public-entity property (Gov. Code § 911.2).
- Seek compensation for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering, and in rare cases involving malice, oppression or fraud, punitive damages (Civil Code § 3294).
- Work on contingency with no fee unless we recover for you.
Heads up
Prior-incident records can matter a great deal.
For costly measures such as guards, courts usually look for prior similar incidents; for simpler measures, less is required. Police calls-for-service records can take weeks to obtain through public-records requests, so it helps to start early.
How Our California Negligent Security Lawyers Help
Negligent security files are investigation-heavy. The property owner’s knowledge of the risk is usually disputed, and proof comes from records the defense would prefer you never see. We pursue those records immediately.
1. Pull Prior-Crime History for the Property
We submit California Public Records Act requests to LAPD, LASD, and other agencies for calls-for-service and crime-report histories at the address. Prior similar incidents can be central to foreseeability, especially when the measure at issue is costly.
2. Subpoena Incident Reports and Security Logs
Property owners maintain their own incident reports, guard tour logs, and resident complaint files. These materials are rarely produced voluntarily — we pursue them by preservation letter first, then formal discovery.
3. Analyze the Security Contract and Post Orders
Most commercial properties use private security firms operating under written contracts and ‘post orders’ specifying guard responsibilities. Gaps between the contract, the post orders, and actual performance are often where liability lives.
4. Retain Premises-Security Experts
Premises-security experts, such as former police officers and loss-prevention professionals, can testify to industry standards for guard staffing, lighting, CCTV placement, access control, and training.
5. Brief the Duty Question
Whether a duty exists is decided by the court, using the special-relationship analysis and the Rowland v. Christian factors, including foreseeability and the burden of the proposed security measures.
6. File Suit and Try Cases
When a case needs to be filed, we file in superior court, take corporate-representative depositions, and prepare each case for trial.
Types of California Negligent Security Cases We Handle
Unsecured entryways, broken gate locks, inadequate lighting, no on-site security.
Poor lighting, absent or disengaged guards, inoperative CCTV.
Situations like Delgado v. Trax Bar & Grill, where staff saw a fight coming and did not take simple steps.
Classic Ann M. fact patterns.
Inadequate front-desk screening, broken room locks, failure to respond to disturbance complaints.
No silent alarm, no bullet-resistant enclosure, single-clerk late-night staffing.
Inadequate lighting, no surveillance, location in high-crime zone.
Concert, festival, or private-event security failures.
Residence-hall access control, escort programs, prior-complaint history.
Assaults where broken locks, absent staff or known risks may have played a part.
Airport and event-venue staging areas with inadequate control.
Common Security Failures Behind These Claims
These conditions come up often in negligent security claims. They are examples, not automatic proof of negligence; whether a particular measure was required depends on the circumstances.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a California Negligent Security Case?
Depending on who controlled the relevant part of the property or the security operation, responsible parties can include those below. Not every party is liable in every case; working out who had control is part of the investigation.
Record-title holder; ultimate responsibility for the safety of the premises.
Bar, nightclub, restaurant, or retailer in exclusive control of the space.
Day-to-day responsibility for inspection, lighting, lock repair, and guard oversight.
Under contract to provide guards; independent tort exposure for negligent services.
Failure to respond, failure to call police, failure to intervene consistent with training.
Duties over the common areas it controls.
Generally liable for a crime only if a physical defect in its property contributed (Gov. Code § 835; Zelig v. County of Los Angeles (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1112), and a written government claim is usually due within six months.
Can be held liable, though collecting a judgment is often difficult; their share of fault also affects how damages are divided.
Fault can be shared. California uses pure comparative fault, so a jury can assign percentages to the property owner, a security company, the attacker and, in some cases, the injured person (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). Each defendant’s share of non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, is generally limited to its own percentage of fault (Civil Code § 1431.2), and a Court of Appeal has allowed a negligent business to have part of that fault assigned to the intentional attacker (Weidenfeller v. Star & Garter (1991) 1 Cal.App.4th 1). Economic damages, such as medical bills, generally remain the joint responsibility of the defendants. The attacker cannot reduce their own share by pointing to anyone else’s negligence (B.B. v. County of Los Angeles (2020) 10 Cal.5th 1).
What Compensation Can You Recover?
Economic Damages
- Emergency, trauma, and surgical care
- Future medical & mental-health treatment
- Lost wages & loss of earning capacity
- Relocation and security-upgrade costs
- Rehabilitation and vocational retraining
Non-Economic Damages
- Pain & suffering
- PTSD, anxiety, depression, panic disorder
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement & scarring
- Loss of consortium for a spouse
Punitive Damages
Recoverable under Civil Code § 3294 when the owner’s conduct amounted to malice, oppression, or fraud.
Not available against public entities (Gov. Code § 818). They require clear and convincing evidence and are rarely awarded against a property owner for negligence alone.
Damages in negligent-security cases are often dominated by the psychological injury, which can eclipse the physical harm. California recognizes PTSD, major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and related diagnoses as compensable noneconomic damages, and in catastrophic cases a life-care plan may include decades of trauma-focused therapy, psychiatric medication management, and vocational support. Medical damages are generally measured by the amounts actually paid or incurred (Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions, Inc. (2011) 52 Cal.4th 541); different rules can apply when treatment is on a lien or the person is uninsured. When an assault leaves the survivor unable to return to prior employment, forensic economists quantify the earning-capacity loss on a present-value basis.
What Affects the Value of a Negligent Security Claim
There is no honest average for these cases, because each turns on its own facts. These are the factors that move the value:
- The severity and permanence of the physical and emotional injuries
- Past medical expenses and the treatment likely to be needed in the future
- Lost income and any reduced ability to earn
- How strong the evidence of foreseeability and causation is
- How fault is divided among the property owner, any security company and the attacker
- What insurance coverage is available to the property owner, operator or security company
- Pain and suffering and other non-economic losses, where the law allows them
Why Choose Saeedian Law Group?
Attorney Michael Saeedian has practiced law in California since 2009.
Meet with the firm at 9100 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500W.
Files are prepared as if they may go to trial.
Michael Saeedian, California State Bar #265470, active status.
Contingency-fee representation — you pay nothing up front and nothing along the way.
Based on 256 reviews on the firm’s Google Business Profile, as of September 2026.
What to Do After a California Negligent Security Attack
The first days after an attack matter for both your recovery and your future claim. Evidence disappears quickly and the property owner’s insurer is on the file before the police leave the scene.
Why Evidence Can Disappear Quickly
Much of the evidence in these cases belongs to the property owner or a security company, and some of it is not kept for long. Surveillance systems often record over footage automatically, and electronic access records may be kept only for a limited time. That is one reason a formal request to preserve evidence, sent early, can matter.
Evidence that can help establish what happened and what the owner knew includes:
- Surveillance and CCTV footage
- Key-card, access-control and gate-entry records
- Security guard logs and incident reports
- Prior complaints and earlier incident reports
- Maintenance and repair records for gates, locks, doors, lights, cameras and intercoms
- Photos and video of the property’s condition
- Names and contact details of witnesses
- Messages and emails with property management
- Police reports and calls-for-service records
- Information about prior incidents, where legally relevant
Gather what you can lawfully keep, such as your own photos, messages and medical records. Do not go back onto the property to collect evidence, confront anyone, or try to get records you are not entitled to. A lawyer can request records through proper legal channels.
How Long Do I Have to File a Claim?
⚠ Statute of Limitations Alert
- Personal injury against private owners: generally 2 years from the date of injury (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1).
- Adult sexual assault: generally the later of 10 years from the last act or 3 years from discovering the injury, including claims against property owners and other third parties (Code Civ. Proc. § 340.16). Some older claims have been revived for limited periods. Childhood sexual assault claims follow separate rules (§ 340.1).
- Public-entity property (public housing, parks, transit stations): generally 6 months to present a written government claim (Gov. Code § 911.2), before any lawsuit.
- Wrongful death: generally 2 years from the date of death; the public-entity claim rules still apply to public defendants.
- Minors: the 2-year court deadline is generally paused until age 18 for private defendants, but that pause does not apply to public-entity claims. A minor may still qualify for late-claim relief (Gov. Code § 911.6).
Missing a deadline can bar the claim, however strong the facts. Public-entity deadlines are much shorter, which is why early advice matters.
Where Your California Negligent Security Case Gets Filed
Venue for an injury case is generally proper in the county where the injury happened or where a defendant lives (Code Civ. Proc. § 395). Which courthouse within that county hears the case depends on that court’s own rules and the type of case, so venue is confirmed before filing.
Speak With a California Negligent Security Lawyer Today
An assault on someone else’s property can leave physical, psychological, and financial wounds that take years to heal. The property owner’s insurer is already on your case; having counsel of your own on day one evens the contest.
Our office handles the prior-crime Public Records Act requests, the security-contract and post-order analysis, the corporate-representative depositions, and the expert retention that modern California negligent-security litigation requires. Your job is to recover.
Call (310) 288-3000 or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation. Claims involving public property have much shorter deadlines, so early advice matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is negligent security under California law?
It is a type of premises liability claim. It asks whether the person or business in control of a property failed to take reasonable security measures against a foreseeable crime, and whether that failure contributed to someone’s injury. Courts first decide whether a duty existed, often based on the relationship between the property owner and the injured person, and then weigh foreseeability against the burden of the security measure at issue (Civil Code § 1714; Ann M. v. Pacific Plaza Shopping Center (1993) 6 Cal.4th 666; Delgado v. Trax Bar & Grill (2005) 36 Cal.4th 224).
What is the ‘heightened foreseeability’ standard from Ann M.?
Ann M. v. Pacific Plaza Shopping Center (1993) 6 Cal.4th 666 held that when a claimant asks a court to impose a costly duty, most notably hiring security guards, the crime must have been highly foreseeable. The court said that can rarely be shown without prior similar incidents of violent crime on the property.
How does Delgado v. Trax Bar & Grill fit in?
Delgado v. Trax Bar & Grill (2005) 36 Cal.4th 224 applied a sliding scale: costly measures require heightened foreseeability, while simple, minimally burdensome measures can be required on a lesser showing. A business that perceives imminent danger may have to take simple steps, such as separating the people involved or calling for help. Morris v. De La Torre (2005) 36 Cal.4th 260 applied the same idea to calling 911 during an ongoing attack.
Can a landlord be responsible for an assault at an apartment complex?
It can, depending on the facts. Landlords must take reasonable steps to secure areas they control against foreseeable crime. In Vasquez v. Residential Investments, Inc. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 269, a wrongful death claim was allowed to proceed where the landlord had not replaced a missing pane of glass in the apartment’s front door, which the attacker used to get in; because the repair was cheap, less foreseeability was needed. California also requires specific locks on residential rentals (Civil Code § 1941.3), though a violation does not by itself establish negligence.
How do I prove the property owner should have foreseen the attack?
Usually through calls-for-service records from local law enforcement, prior incident reports on the property, tenant complaint files and security-vendor logs, often obtained through public-records requests and discovery. Crime statistics for the surrounding area usually are not enough on their own; incidents on the property itself, or at a nearby similar business, and what the owner actually knew tend to matter more.
Can I pursue a civil claim if the attacker was never identified?
Yes. The civil claim does not depend on an arrest or conviction. But the claimant still has to show, with real evidence rather than speculation, that the security failure was a substantial factor in the attack, and an unidentified attacker can make that harder. Evidence such as camera footage, signs of forced entry, or a broken gate the attacker used can help (Saelzler v. Advanced Group 400 (2001) 25 Cal.4th 763).
Does a prior crime have to have happened at the property?
Not always. When the claim is that the owner should have hired guards or taken other costly steps, courts generally expect evidence of earlier similar incidents on the property. For simpler measures, less is needed, and a business may have to respond to violence it can see happening even without earlier incidents. The absence of prior incidents does not automatically end the case (Janice H. v. 696 North Robertson, LLC (2016) 1 Cal.App.5th 586).
What if a security camera was not working?
A broken or non-recording camera can be relevant evidence of how the property was maintained, but it does not automatically establish liability. The questions are still whether reasonable security was required and whether the failure made a difference. A missing recording also means less evidence of what happened, so other records become more important.
What should I do if surveillance footage may be deleted?
Act quickly. Footage is often recorded over automatically. A lawyer can send the property owner or security company a written request to preserve it and other records, and can pursue them through the legal process if needed.
How is a negligent security case different from a criminal case?
A criminal case is brought by the state against the attacker and requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A negligent security case is a civil claim against a property owner or others for failing to take reasonable precautions, decided under a lower standard of proof. One can go forward without the other.
What if I was a trespasser or unauthorized guest at the time?
Rowland rejected rigid status categories, so your visitor status is simply one factor in the duty analysis. Limited statutory immunities exist under Civil Code §§ 846 and 847 for specific circumstances, but outside those exceptions trespass is not a categorical bar.
How long do I have to sue for a negligent-security injury?
Generally two years from the date of injury for private defendants (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1). Claims against public entities generally require a written government claim within six months (Gov. Code § 911.2). Adult sexual assault claims generally have until the later of 10 years from the last act or 3 years from discovering the injury (Code Civ. Proc. § 340.16).
Can I recover punitive damages?
Only with clear and convincing evidence of malice, oppression or fraud (Civil Code § 3294), which is a high bar. Negligence, even serious negligence, is not enough, and for a company the conduct generally has to involve an officer, director or managing agent. Punitive damages are not available against public entities (Gov. Code § 818).
What if the property hired a security company — can I sue the vendor?
Yes. Private security companies owe independent tort duties for the services they contract to perform. Their contracts, post orders, training records, and guard tour logs are all discoverable, and gaps between contracted scope and actual performance often drive liability findings.
Can I sue a bar that kept serving a drunk patron who then assaulted me?
California has narrowed dram-shop liability under Business & Professions Code § 25602 and Civil Code § 1714, but a negligent-security claim against the bar based on its failure to respond to a known assault-in-progress is a different theory — and one that Delgado directly addresses.
How much is a California negligent-security case worth?
Value depends on the severity and permanence of the injuries, the strength of the foreseeability and causation evidence, how fault is divided, available insurance (property, commercial general liability and security-vendor policies) and venue. No honest figure can be given without reviewing the facts, and part of the fault may be assigned to the attacker, which can reduce non-economic damages owed by a property owner.
I was sexually assaulted at a hotel. What do I do?
Your safety and health come first. If you choose, a sexual assault forensic exam can preserve evidence, and a police report creates a record. Support from a mental-health professional can help at any stage. Before speaking with the hotel’s insurer or risk manager, consider talking to a lawyer. California’s extended deadlines for sexual assault claims (Code Civ. Proc. § 340.16) may apply. Hotels have a special relationship with their guests that can create a duty to protect them, subject to the same limits on foreseeability that apply to other properties.
How much does a negligent-security lawyer cost?
Saeedian Law Group handles negligent-security cases on a contingency fee — no fee unless we recover. The written fee agreement complies with Business & Professions Code § 6147. All consultations are free and confidential.
About Michael Saeedian
Michael Saeedian, Esq. — Founding Attorney, Saeedian Law Group (California State Bar #265470). Michael Saeedian has practiced law in California since 2009 and represents injured Californians and their families in personal injury and wrongful death matters. His practice includes negligent-security, wrongful-death and catastrophic-injury cases.
Legal disclaimer: This page provides general information about California injury law and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different; past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship with Saeedian Law Group. For advice specific to your situation, contact our office at (310) 288-3000 or schedule a free consultation.
