Lost a Limb in an Attack That the Property Owner Should Have Prevented?

Amputation From an Assault or Attack on Someone Else’s Property: Your Rights

Did you lose an arm, leg, hand, or foot in a violent attack on someone else’s property? You may have a legal claim against the property owner. That is separate from any criminal case against the person who hurt you. If the property was unsafe and better security could have stopped the attack, the owner or manager may share the blame for what you lost.

The Myth: “It Was Just a Crime, So No One Else Is Responsible”

Many survivors and families believe nothing can be done because “it was a crime” — the responsibility ends with the attacker. That is not how the law works.

Two separate systems can apply to the same attack:

• Criminal case. The state prosecutes the person who attacked you. This is about punishment. It does not pay for your medical care, and you do not control it.
• Civil claim. You (or your family) can pursue money for your losses from the property owner who failed to keep the place reasonably safe. You control this claim.

Here is the point that surprises people most: your civil claim does not depend on catching the attacker. The attacker may never be arrested, identified, or convicted. Your claim is not against them — it is against the owner or manager whose broken locks, dead lighting, or missing security allowed a foreseeable attack to happen. Courts decide the civil case by a lower standard of proof (“more likely than not”) than the criminal “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard, so a claim can succeed even where a prosecution never does.

This kind of civil claim has a legal name: negligent security. It is a form of premises liability, which simply means an owner can be responsible for foreseeable harm on their property. But you do not need to know that term to have a case — you just need to have been hurt somewhere you had a right to feel reasonably safe.

Right now, your job is to heal. You can learn about your options when you are ready. When that time comes, contact us for a free, confidential case evaluation.

Who This Page Is For

This page is for people who lost a limb in a violent attack on another person’s property — and for the families who love them.

• Survivors of an assault, shooting, stabbing, or beating who lost a limb during or after the attack.
• Family members speaking up for a loved one who cannot do so right now.
• Families pursuing a wrongful-death claim after a fatal attack. A death is the most catastrophic outcome of all, and these families have rights too.

These attacks happen in places you expect to be reasonably safe: apartment complexes, parking lots and garages, hotels and motels, bars and nightclubs, gas stations, stores, and ATMs.

CHG Personal Injury Lawyers is based in Florida, serves Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville, and takes catastrophic cases across the country in English and Spanish. See our amputation and limb-loss resource hub.

What Counts as “Unsafe Property” After an Attack

Unsafe property means the owner failed to take reasonable steps to protect people from a known danger. You do not need to know which failure applies — a lawyer identifies that. Common security failures include:

• Broken or missing locks, gates, and fences
• Burned-out or missing lighting in lots, stairwells, and walkways
• Broken or missing security cameras
• No security guards where the risk was known
• Propped-open or unlocked entry doors

Warning signs an owner should have acted on include past crimes, assaults, or shootings at or near the property; a location already known for violence; and tenant or customer complaints that were ignored.

The central question is simple: could reasonable security have stopped or reduced the chance of this attack? If the answer may be yes, you could have a claim.

The Lifetime Financial Reality of Limb Loss

Headline settlement numbers you see online are misleading — they describe someone else’s facts, not your future. What matters is the true lifetime cost of losing a limb, because that is what a claim is built to cover.

Consider what actually happens over a lifetime:

• Prosthetics are not a one-time purchase. A functional prosthetic limb typically needs to be replaced every few years due to wear, changes in your residual limb, and technology updates — over a lifetime that can mean many replacements, each often costing tens of thousands of dollars, plus sockets, liners, and repairs. Insurance frequently caps or denies these costs.
• Your home and vehicle may need to change. Wheelchair ramps, widened doorways, a roll-in shower, lowered counters, or a wheelchair-accessible van with hand controls are expensive one-time and recurring costs.
• Lost earning capacity, not just lost wages. The bigger loss is often what you can no longer earn over your career — a factory worker, driver, or tradesperson may be unable to return to the same work at all, requiring retraining for a lower-paying field.
• Ongoing care. Physical and occupational therapy, treatment for phantom limb pain, and in-home assistance can continue for years.

This is why we work with life-care planners and vocational and economic experts who document these decades-long needs in a report — so a claim reflects your real future, not a first hospital bill.

What a Negligent-Security Amputation Claim Can Seek

We handle all forms of limb loss tied to a violent attack:

• Leg and foot amputations
• Arm and hand amputations
• Loss of more than one limb
• Amputations needed after the attack — from severe crush injuries, gunshot wounds, or infection

Every case is different, and the law does not promise any amount. A claim may seek money for:

• Past and future medical care, surgeries, and hospital stays
• Prosthetics, including the lifetime cost to replace and maintain them
• Rehabilitation and physical or occupational therapy
• Lost wages and lost future earning capacity, plus retraining
• Home and vehicle modifications, and in-home care
• Pain, suffering, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life
• In fatal cases, wrongful-death damages for the family

How We Prove the Property Owner Was Responsible

These cases rest on four elements:

• Duty of care. The owner or manager owed a duty to keep tenants, guests, or customers reasonably safe.
• Foreseeability. The attack could have been expected. We gather police reports, incident logs, and area crime data.
• The security failure. We document broken locks, poor lighting, missing cameras, or absent guards.
• Causation. We show how reasonable security could have stopped or reduced the harm.

Our investigation includes site inspections, fast requests for surveillance footage, witness interviews (including past victims), records requests, and security and medical experts.

Negligent-security cases are among the harder injury claims to prove. They turn on whether the attack was foreseeable and whether evidence was preserved. Footage gets overwritten, often within days. Broken locks get fixed. That is why acting early matters so much.

How the Process Works, Step by Step

1. Free, confidential case evaluation. You tell us what happened; we explain your options. No cost, no obligation.
2. Investigation and evidence preservation. We move quickly to secure footage, records, and the scene’s condition.
3. Identifying who is responsible. This may include the property owner, a management company, a security contractor, or others.
4. Building your damages. We work with your medical team and life-care planners to document lifetime needs.
5. Negotiation and, if needed, a lawsuit. We negotiate with insurers; if no fair offer comes, we file suit.

A realistic note on timing: catastrophic cases can take months to years. Florida also sets strict deadlines. For most negligence claims that accrue on or after March 24, 2023, you generally have two years to file under Fla. Stat. § 95.11. We cannot and do not guarantee any specific timeline or result.

Why Families Choose CHG Personal Injury Lawyers

• Attorneys licensed and admitted to The Florida Bar, handling catastrophic cases nationwide
• Bilingual English and Spanish service
• A contingency-fee model — you typically pay no attorney fee unless there is a recovery
• A plain-language, caring approach that keeps your family informed and treated with dignity

Every case depends on its own facts. We do not guarantee outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Talk to Us About Your Claim

Did you lose a limb in an attack on unsafe property? You deserve honest answers. CHG Personal Injury Lawyers can review what happened and explain your options — including whether a claim exists even when no one was arrested.

There is no upfront cost, and we serve clients in English and Spanish. Acting early helps preserve evidence and protect your deadlines.

Contact us now for a free, confidential case evaluation, or read more on our amputation and limb-loss resource hub.