Attacked on Someone Else's Property? You May Have a Claim.

Brain Injury From Assault on Someone Else’s Property: When the Owner Is Liable

You parked in an apartment garage. You walked through a hotel hallway. You stepped into a gas-station lot or a nightclub bathroom. A place where you had every reason to feel safe. Then someone attacked you—assaulted, shot, robbed, or beat you. Now you live with a serious brain injury. Or a family member did not survive.

The person who attacked you committed a crime. But here is what many people never learn: the property owner may also be legally responsible — separately — if they failed to keep the place reasonably safe.

If a working gate, a repaired lock, adequate lighting, or a security guard could have stopped the attack, the owner may owe you money for your injury and recovery.

This is called a negligent-security claim. In plain language: you were hurt because someone who owned or controlled a property ignored a safety danger they should have fixed. You do not need to know the legal name to have a valid claim. You just need to have been hurt because the owner’s negligence created the opportunity for an attack. Liability depends on whether the crime was foreseeable and whether the lack of security caused the harm; fault may be shared with the attacker.

This page focuses on serious, permanent brain injuries from assault on someone else’s property. We discuss moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and fatal head injuries handled as wrongful-death claims. If you or a family member suffered a brain injury from an attack on unsafe property, we can help you understand whether you have a claim and what it may be worth.

Request a free, confidential case evaluation. We listen in English or Spanish and tell you honestly where you stand.

Who this page is for

• The injured person recovering from moderate or severe TBI after an assault.
• A spouse or family member caring for someone who cannot yet advocate for themselves.
• A family that lost a loved one to a fatal head injury and is weighing a wrongful-death claim.
• Anyone unsure whether the property owner’s actions (or inaction) created the conditions for the attack.

CHG Personal Injury Lawyers represents clients across Florida — Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and 30+ additional communities — and takes negligent-security cases nationwide.

What counts as a serious brain injury

A traumatic brain injury is damage to the brain from a blow, blunt force, a gunshot wound, a hard fall, or being struck during an attack. The Mayo Clinic explains that TBI can produce lasting or permanent changes in thinking, movement, sensation, and behavior.

Our focus is on moderate and severe TBI — injuries that permanently alter a person’s life. According to the CDC’s TBI surveillance data, TBI contributes to approximately 176,500 hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths yearly in the United States.

Survivors of serious TBI often face effects that never fully resolve. Common lasting effects include:

• Memory, concentration, and reasoning problems
• Personality and mood changes
• Seizure disorders
• Loss of speech or muscle control
• Inability to return to work or school
• Need for lifelong, often 24-hour, attendant care

A brain injury does not always come from a direct blow to the head. Strangulation, choking, or heavy blood loss can cut off oxygen to the brain. This causes anoxic or hypoxic brain injury — a real risk in violent assaults, particularly sexual assaults or attacks involving restraint. Learn more about anoxic and hypoxic brain injuries and the long-term effects of severe brain injury.

When a head injury is fatal

When an attack causes a fatal brain injury, death is the most catastrophic outcome. Florida’s Wrongful Death Act (Fla. Stat. §768.16–768.26) allows a personal representative to bring a claim on behalf of surviving family members — a spouse, children, parents, or others who depended on the deceased.

We handle these cases with dignity and privacy. The focus stays on your family and what you can do next. See our guide to fatal brain injury and wrongful-death claims.

When is a property owner legally responsible?

Owners and operators of apartments, hotels, stores, parking garages, bars, nightclubs, gas stations, ATMs, and other places open to residents, guests, or customers have a legal duty to keep those places reasonably safe. When they ignore that duty and an attack follows, they may share the blame.

Signs an owner may have failed to provide reasonable security:

• Broken or missing locks on entry doors, gates, or access gates
• Burned-out, dim, or absent lighting in parking lots, garages, stairwells, and common areas
• Cameras that do not work — or no cameras at all in high-risk areas
• No security guards or patrols where clearly needed given prior crime
• Propped-open doors or broken buzzer/access systems
• Inadequate or missing fencing around the property
• Lack of panic buttons or emergency communication systems

The legal turning point is foreseeability — whether the danger was predictable. Prior crimes on or near the property, earlier complaints from tenants or customers about safety, the crime pattern of the surrounding area, and similar attacks at the same location can all make an attack foreseeable. If danger was foreseeable and the owner did nothing, they may be liable.

A negligent-security claim generally must show four things:

1. The owner owed you a duty to act reasonably.
2. The owner failed to provide reasonable security.
3. That failure allowed you to be harmed.
4. You suffered real damages.

Every case turns on its own facts and the property’s history. A lawyer reviews police records, prior complaints, physical evidence, and maintenance logs to tell you whether you have a claim.

Your fault (if any) does not eliminate the owner’s responsibility

Many people worry: “Was I partly to blame for being attacked?” That worry is natural, but it does not work the way you might think.

Florida uses modified comparative negligence under Fla. Stat. §768.81. Here is what that means in plain language:

• If you are found to be 50% or less at fault, you can still recover money — but the amount is reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you are found 20% at fault and the damages are $100,000, you recover $80,000.
• If you are found more than 50% at fault, you generally recover nothing.

The key: your actions and the owner’s negligence are separate. Even if you made a mistake — walked alone late at night, did not notice a broken lock, or were in an area you should have avoided — the owner’s failure to provide reasonable security can still be their fault. The two are weighed independently.

Example: You were assaulted in a hotel hallway. The hallway had no working camera and no security patrol, even though the hotel had received prior complaints about loitering and theft. You might be found 10% at fault for walking alone; the hotel might be found 90% at fault for ignoring a known danger. You would recover 90% of your damages.

Preserve the evidence — before it disappears

Negligent-security cases are won or lost on records that vanish quickly. If you can, or if a family member can help, take these steps now:

Security footage. Many systems overwrite recordings in 30 days or less. A written preservation demand sent early stops that clip from being erased. This is critical — footage often shows exactly what security measures (or lack thereof) existed at the time.

Prior-crime records. Police calls-for-service and incident reports for the property can show the owner knew of a pattern. In Florida these are public records under Chapter 119. Request them from local law enforcement.

Maintenance and repair logs. Records showing a lock, gate, light, or camera was reported broken and left unfixed — or was never installed despite prior complaints.

Tenant and customer complaints. Emails, text messages, or written complaints warning management about safety concerns, broken locks, poor lighting, or prior incidents.

Photos and video. Of the broken lock, dark lot, missing camera, or other unsafe condition, taken as soon as possible after the attack.

Witness names and contact information. Before people move, change jobs, or forget details.

Your medical records. From the emergency room, hospital, and all follow-up care — these document the injury’s severity and immediate impact.

You do not have to gather all of this yourself. Tell us early, and we move to preserve it before it is gone.

What our representation covers

We handle the whole case so your family can focus on recovery:

• A free, confidential case evaluation on whether you likely have a claim.
• Investigation — incident and 911 reports, prior-crime data, lighting and maintenance records, past complaints, security contracts, and rapid steps to preserve camera footage.
• Identifying every responsible party — the property owner, management company, security contractor, and any other party who contributed to unsafe conditions.
• Building the medical picture — working with your treating physicians, neurologists, and vocational experts to document injury severity, current limitations, and lifelong impact.
• Calculating full damages — past and future medical care, lost wages, attendant care, home modifications, and non-economic losses (see below).
• Handling insurers and litigation — negotiating with insurance companies and, if no fair resolution comes, filing and trying the case.

We take these cases on a contingency fee — no attorney’s fees unless there is a recovery. You pay nothing upfront.

What damages can you recover?

You can seek money for the real costs and losses a brain injury creates. No lawyer can promise a specific amount — anyone who does is a red flag. Damages generally fall into two groups.

Economic damages — measurable costs:

• Past and future medical care, hospitalization, and rehabilitation
• In-home and lifelong attendant care (often the largest cost in serious TBI)
• Lost wages and lost future earning ability
• Assistive equipment, wheelchairs, and home modifications (ramps, accessible bathrooms, etc.)
• Transportation and vehicle modifications
• Vocational retraining

Non-economic damages — human losses:

• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Emotional distress
• Loss of consortium (for spouses)

For families who lost a loved one, wrongful-death damages may include loss of companionship, guidance, and support, and survivors’ mental pain and suffering as set out in Fla. Stat. §768.21.

What drives a claim’s value? The injury’s severity and permanence, the lifetime cost of care (which can exceed $1 million for severe TBI requiring 24-hour attendant care), available insurance and assets, and the strength of evidence of the owner’s negligence. Because those facts differ in every case, no honest lawyer quotes a figure before reviewing them.

How long does a case take?

It depends on the facts, and we will not pretend otherwise. Straightforward claims can resolve in months. Serious-TBI cases often take a year or more — sometimes longer — because the injury needs time to stabilize before its true lifetime cost is known.

Rushing to settle before a brain injury’s long-term picture is clear can cost a family dearly. We build the case to reflect a lifetime of need, not just today’s bills.

The process, step by step

1. Free case evaluation. You tell us what happened; we explain your options and next steps.
2. Investigation. We move fast to preserve footage, records, and evidence.
3. Building your case. Medical and vocational experts document the TBI, its cause, and its lifetime cost.
4. Pursuing responsible parties. We identify and pursue the owner, manager, security company — and their insurers.
5. Negotiation. Many claims resolve through settlement discussions.
6. Litigation. If the offer is not fair, we are prepared to file suit and try the case.

Why families choose CHG Personal Injury Lawyers

We focus exclusively on catastrophic, life-altering injuries — including traumatic brain injury and negligent-security cases. Our attorneys are admitted to the Florida Bar.

We offer bilingual (English and Spanish) support so no family is shut out of their own case. Our contingency-fee model keeps the door open regardless of finances. We cannot promise a result — but we can promise care, honesty, and hard work.

Frequently asked questions

Talk to a lawyer about a brain injury from an attack

You are facing an injury you never asked for. You do not have to sort it out alone. Because evidence like camera footage can vanish in weeks, it helps to act soon.

Request your free, confidential case evaluation today. We are available in English and Spanish.