Negligent security claims hold property owners responsible when inadequate security allows a foreseeable attack. If you were assaulted, shot, robbed, or injured on someone else’s property in Columbus, Ohio, Michael D. Christensen Law Offices LLC investigates what the owner knew and failed to do. Call 614-300-5000 for a free consultation.
You went to a store, an apartment building, a parking garage, a hotel, or a bar. You were doing something ordinary. And you were attacked.
In the days afterward, most people focus entirely on the person who hurt them. That is natural. But there is a second question that often matters more to your recovery: why was that attack possible in the first place? If the gate had been fixed. If the lights had been working. If the cameras had been recording. If a guard had been on duty during the hours the property already knew were dangerous.
When a property owner knows a serious risk exists and does nothing about it, Ohio law can hold that owner accountable. Attorney Mike Christensen has represented injured people and grieving families throughout greater Columbus, and these cases are handled on a contingency fee — nothing up front, and no fee unless there is a recovery.
What Is a Negligent Security Claim?
A negligent security claim is a type of premises liability case. Instead of alleging that a property was physically unsafe — a wet floor, a broken step — it alleges that the property was unsafe because the owner failed to take reasonable precautions against criminal activity it knew or should have known about.
The theory is not that the property owner attacked you. It is that the owner created or tolerated conditions that made an attack likely, and that reasonable security would have prevented or reduced the harm. Ohio law is clear that a property owner is not an insurer of your safety. But an owner who profits from inviting the public onto its property, and who knows that property has become dangerous, cannot simply ignore the risk.
How This Differs From the Criminal Case
The criminal case and your civil claim are two separate proceedings with different parties, different standards of proof, and different outcomes.
- The criminal case is brought by the state against the person who attacked you. It seeks punishment. You are a witness and a crime victim, not a party, and any restitution ordered is usually limited to documented economic loss.
- Your civil claim is brought by you against the property owner or manager. It seeks compensation for everything you lost — medical care, income, counseling, pain, and the long-term effects on your life.
The two can proceed at the same time. In fact, they usually should, because the civil deadline runs on its own schedule and the evidence you need does not wait for a prosecution to conclude.
Why It Does Not Matter Whether the Attacker Was Caught
This surprises people, so it is worth stating plainly. Your negligent security claim does not depend on the attacker being identified, arrested, charged, or convicted.
Many of the strongest negligent security cases involve assailants who were never found. The claim is against the property owner, and it turns on what that owner knew about the danger and what it failed to do. An unsolved crime does not weaken a case built on a broken security gate and eleven prior violent incidents at the same address.
There is also a practical dimension. Even when an attacker is caught and convicted, that person usually has no assets and no insurance. A criminal judgment against someone in prison rarely produces meaningful compensation. The property owner, by contrast, generally carries liability insurance. That is often the only realistic path to paying for a lifetime of medical care.
Ohio’s Legal Test: When Does a Property Owner Owe You a Duty?
This is where negligent security cases are won and lost, and it is the part almost no law firm page explains. Understanding it will tell you a great deal about whether your case is viable.
The General Rule and Its Exception
Ohio’s general rule is that a property owner has no duty to protect visitors from the criminal acts of third parties. Criminal conduct is treated as unpredictable, and owners are not made guarantors of public safety.
The exception swallows a great deal of that rule. Ohio recognizes that a business owner does have a duty to warn or protect its invitees from the criminal acts of third parties when the owner knows or should know that there is a substantial risk of harm to invitees on premises the owner possesses and controls. That principle comes from the Supreme Court of Ohio’s decision in Simpson v. Big Bear Stores Co. and remains the framework Ohio courts apply.
An invitee is someone on the property for a purpose connected to the owner’s business — a shopper, a hotel guest, a restaurant patron, a tenant, a delivery driver. Most negligent security plaintiffs are invitees, and invitees are owed the highest duty Ohio premises law recognizes.
The Totality of the Circumstances Test
If duty depends on whether the crime was foreseeable, how do Ohio courts decide foreseeability? They apply a totality of the circumstances test, drawn from Reitz v. May Co. Department Stores and applied by Ohio appellate courts since. Rather than requiring a specific number of identical prior crimes, courts look at the whole picture and ask whether a reasonably prudent business would have anticipated that an injury was likely to occur.
Factors that courts weigh include:
- Prior criminal incidents on the property, especially violent ones
- How recent those prior incidents were
- How physically close they were to where the attack occurred
- How similar they were in type and severity
- Police calls for service to that specific address
- The property owner’s own incident reports and internal records
- Complaints from tenants, customers, or employees about safety
- The character of the surrounding area
- The nature of the business itself, including whether it handles cash late at night or serves alcohol
- Security measures the owner had already adopted, and whether they were maintained
The last factor is often overlooked and quietly powerful. When a property installs cameras, hires guards, or builds a controlled-access gate, it has effectively acknowledged that a risk exists. Letting those measures fail can be worse, evidentially, than never having installed them.
The Possession and Control Requirement
This is the requirement that ends more Ohio negligent security cases than any other, and it is almost never explained on law firm websites.
Foreseeability alone is not enough. The duty runs to premises the defendant actually possesses and controls. In Simpson, a shopper was attacked in a shopping center parking lot, and the Supreme Court of Ohio addressed whether a store’s duty to its invitees extended to adjacent land the store did not control. It held that possession and control are fundamental to imposing a duty to keep premises safe, and that the duty cannot be extended on foreseeability alone.
The practical consequence matters enormously. If you were attacked in a shopping center lot, the question of which entity controlled that lot — the anchor tenant, the individual store, the shopping center owner, or a property management company — may decide who can be sued and whether the case survives at all.
This is why a negligent security case should begin with a title search, lease review, and a careful reconstruction of exactly where the attack occurred. A few feet can be the difference between a viable claim and a dismissal.
Why Ohio Courts Sometimes Find Crime Was Not Foreseeable
An honest page has to tell you what defeats these cases, not just what supports them. Ohio courts have identified recurring reasons for finding, as a matter of law, that a crime was not foreseeable:
- Spatial separation. Prior crimes happened elsewhere — down the street, in the neighborhood, in a different part of a large complex — rather than at the location of the attack.
- Difference in kind and degree. The property had a history of shoplifting, car break-ins, or property crime, but nothing suggesting a risk of violent personal attack. Courts frequently distinguish property crime from crimes against persons.
- No proof of actual knowledge. The plaintiff cannot show the owner knew about the danger. General neighborhood crime statistics, without evidence tied to the property or to the owner’s knowledge, are often held insufficient.
These are exactly the arguments a defense lawyer will make in your case. Anticipating them is why the early investigation matters so much — and why building foreseeability evidence tied specifically to the address is the central task of a negligent security claim.
Security Failures That Support a Columbus Negligent Security Claim
Once foreseeability is established, the next question is what reasonable security would have looked like and what the property actually did. These are the failures that come up most often.
Inadequate or Broken Lighting
Lighting is the most common and most provable security failure. Burned-out fixtures in parking lots and garages, dark stairwells and breezeways, unlit building entrances, lights on timers set for the wrong hours, and fixtures obscured by overgrown trees all create the conditions attackers prefer.
Lighting is also measurable. Illumination levels can be tested and compared against recognized standards, and maintenance records show how long a fixture was dark. Research published through the U.S. Department of Justice on crime prevention through environmental design has long identified lighting, sightlines, and access control as core elements of securing parking facilities and similar spaces.
Broken Locks, Gates, and Access Control
Controlled-access properties advertise safety and charge for it. When the promised system fails, the gap between what was marketed and what was delivered becomes central to the case.
- Perimeter gates propped open, broken for weeks, or never repaired
- Exterior building doors that do not latch or have defeated strikes
- Broken or missing deadbolts on unit doors
- Key fob or code systems that were never deactivated for former tenants and employees
- Sliding doors and ground-floor windows without functioning locks
- Stairwell and garage doors that were supposed to be secured and were not
Cameras That Do Not Work
Non-functioning cameras are a recurring theme. Some properties install dummy cameras. Others have real systems that stopped recording months earlier, cover only the leasing office, or overwrite footage every few days with nobody monitoring the feed.
A camera system creates two distinct issues. First, a system that does not deter or record is evidence of a security program that exists on paper only. Second, if footage of your attack existed and the property failed to preserve it after being asked, that failure carries its own consequences in litigation.
Absent, Untrained, or Unsupervised Security Personnel
Properties with a history of violence sometimes hire guards and then undercut them — one guard for a sprawling complex, coverage that ends at 10 p.m. when the incidents happen at 2 a.m., no patrol requirements, no training on when to call police, no supervision, and no documentation.
When a security company is involved, the guard contract, post orders, patrol logs, incident reports, and training files become critical evidence, and the security contractor may be a separate defendant with its own insurance.
Landscaping, Layout, and Concealment
Overgrown hedges next to walkways, blind corners in garages, recessed entryways, dumpster enclosures near parking areas, and stairwells with no visibility from occupied space all give an attacker somewhere to wait unseen. These are design and maintenance choices, and they are correctable.
Failure to Warn
Ohio’s standard speaks of a duty to warn or protect. Where a property knows about a specific, recent danger — a series of armed robberies in the lot, a violent former tenant returning, an assault in a stairwell last week — telling residents and customers is often the cheapest available precaution. Saying nothing, in order to avoid alarming tenants or hurting occupancy, is a decision with consequences.
Policy and Response Failures
- No system for logging incidents, so patterns are never identified
- Complaints received and never acted on
- Staff instructed not to call police in order to keep reported crime numbers down
- No emergency procedures and no training for on-site staff
- Corporate security standards that exist at the parent company but are ignored at the individual property
- Known criminal activity on the property tolerated because units were occupied and rent was being paid
Where Negligent Security Cases Happen in Columbus
Apartment Complexes and Rental Housing
Apartment cases are the most common negligent security claims in Franklin County. Complexes control parking lots, breezeways, laundry rooms, mail areas, stairwells, playgrounds, and entry systems, and they market safety features as a reason to sign a lease. Assaults, shootings, home invasions, and sexual assaults in these settings frequently trace back to a broken gate, a dead light, or a documented pattern that management chose not to address.
Bars, Nightclubs, and Entertainment Districts
Venues serving alcohol late at night carry heightened risk, and Columbus has concentrated nightlife in the Short North, the Arena District, the OSU campus area along High Street, and Grandview. Overcrowding, understaffed door security, no weapons screening at venues with a history of weapons incidents, failure to break up escalating conflicts, and ejecting an intoxicated patron into a dark lot all support claims.
Hotels and Motels
Guests are invitees who reasonably expect secure rooms and monitored access. Failed key card systems, doors that do not latch, propped exterior doors, unmonitored corridors, and a property’s tolerance of ongoing criminal activity on site all appear in hotel negligent security cases. Extended-stay and budget properties with documented drug and violence histories are frequent settings.
Parking Lots and Parking Garages
Garages combine everything an attacker wants: low light, concrete blind corners, limited sightlines, poor cell reception, and people walking alone toward their cars. Downtown garages, hospital and campus parking, and shopping center lots at Easton, Polaris, and neighborhood centers all generate claims. As noted above, establishing who controlled the specific lot is the threshold question in these cases.
Gas Stations and Convenience Stores
Late-hour cash businesses are robbery targets, and that is well known to their operators. Cases often involve stores with repeated armed robberies, no working cameras, single-clerk overnight staffing, no drop safe, and no barrier or alarm — despite an incident history that put the operator squarely on notice.
Shopping Centers and Retail
Attacks in retail settings occur in lots, at entrances, and near ATMs. Multi-tenant properties create layered questions about which entity controlled which area and whose insurance responds, which is precisely why these cases require early title and lease work.
Student Housing and Campus-Area Properties
The neighborhoods surrounding Ohio State University have dense off-campus rental housing occupied largely by young adults, often walking home late. Landlords in these areas are on notice of the risks their tenants face, and failures involving exterior door security, lighting, and unrepaired locks recur.
Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities
Residents in long-term care are among the most vulnerable people on any property. Assaults by intruders, by staff, or by other residents can support both negligent security and nursing home abuse and neglect claims, particularly where a facility failed to control access, ignored known resident-on-resident aggression, or hired without adequate background screening.
Workplaces and Job Sites
When a worker is assaulted on the job, the analysis can involve both workers’ compensation and a third-party negligent security claim against a property owner who is not the employer. These claims interact in specific ways, and both should be evaluated together. Our workplace injury page covers the compensation side in more detail.
Event Venues, Gyms, and Other Public Spaces
Concert venues, sports facilities, fitness centers, ATM vestibules, transit stops, and public housing all produce claims when the operator ignored a known risk or a promised security measure was not delivered.
Apartment Complexes and Ohio Landlord Duties
Ohio landlords carry obligations by statute, not just common law. Under Ohio Revised Code 5321.04, a landlord must comply with applicable building, housing, health, and safety codes that materially affect health and safety, must keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition, and must keep common areas in a safe and sanitary condition.
Those duties map directly onto security failures. Exterior door hardware, functioning locks, common-area lighting, and code-required safety equipment fall within them. A landlord who lets a controlled-access gate stay broken for months, or who ignores repeated written complaints about a dead parking lot light, is not merely being inattentive.
Written complaints matter enormously here. If tenants emailed the office, filed maintenance requests, raised issues at meetings, or posted in a resident portal, that record establishes actual notice — the single most valuable category of foreseeability evidence available. If you complained before you were hurt, tell your attorney immediately, and preserve every message.
A lease cannot waive a landlord’s responsibility for common areas. Language purporting to disclaim all liability for criminal acts should be reviewed rather than accepted at face value.
Bar and Nightclub Assaults: Ohio’s Dram Shop Law
When an assault happens at a venue that serves alcohol, there may be two separate claims, and pursuing only one leaves value on the table.
The first is an ordinary negligent security claim: inadequate door staff, no crowd control, failure to intervene in an escalating fight, no response to a known pattern of violence, ejecting patrons into an unlit lot at closing.
The second arises under Ohio Revised Code 4399.18, Ohio’s liquor liability statute. In general terms, a person injured off the permit premises by an intoxicated person may have a claim against a liquor permit holder where the permit holder or an employee knowingly sold an intoxicating beverage to a noticeably intoxicated person, or to a person in violation of the underage service laws, and that intoxication proximately caused the injury or death.
The statute is specific, and the requirements are strict. Whether it applies depends on where the injury occurred, what was served, to whom, and what the staff observed. It is not a general-purpose claim against every bar where something bad happened, and it should be evaluated by an attorney against the actual facts.
What this means practically is that evidence gathering at a venue case is broader than at other properties. Point-of-sale records, drink counts, server assignments, bartender training records, security camera coverage of the bar itself, and prior liquor control citations all become relevant.
Sexual Assault Negligent Security Claims
Survivors of sexual assault on hotel, apartment, garage, campus-area, and workplace properties can bring negligent security claims. We handle these matters with care, and there are a few things worth knowing before you call.
You Control the Pace
A first conversation is a conversation. It does not commit you to filing anything, and you decide what you are ready to discuss. You are welcome to bring a support person, an advocate, or a family member.
Privacy Options Exist
Many survivors hesitate because filing a lawsuit feels like making a private trauma public. Courts sometimes permit plaintiffs in these cases to proceed under a pseudonym, and protective orders can restrict the disclosure and use of sensitive records. Whether those tools are available depends on the court and the facts, so raise privacy concerns at the outset rather than after filing.
You Do Not Need a Conviction
As with any negligent security claim, the case against the property owner does not require the assailant to be identified, charged, or convicted. It requires proof that the property knew of a substantial risk and failed to act reasonably.
Counseling Costs Are Recoverable
Therapy, psychiatric care, medication, and the long-term mental health consequences of an assault are compensable and should be documented from the beginning. Consistent treatment is both good for you and important to the claim.
Support Is Available Now
Regardless of whether you pursue a civil claim, the Ohio Victims of Crime Compensation Program may reimburse certain out-of-pocket costs including counseling and medical bills, and the Columbus Division of Police victim services unit can connect you with advocacy resources.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Negligent Security Case?
These are frequently multi-defendant cases, and identifying every responsible entity is often what makes the difference between a token settlement and full compensation.
- The property owner. The entity holding title, which may be a limited liability company created solely to hold one property.
- The property management company. Often a separate business that made the day-to-day decisions about lighting, repairs, staffing, and complaints, and which carries its own policy.
- The business operator or tenant. The store, bar, hotel operator, or franchisee that controlled the space where the attack occurred.
- A franchisor or national brand. Where corporate security standards existed and were not enforced, or where the brand retained meaningful operational control.
- The security contractor. A guard company whose personnel were untrained, absent, or failed to respond, with a separate contract and separate coverage.
- A maintenance or alarm contractor. Where a company was responsible for lighting, gates, locks, or camera systems and did not perform.
- A governmental entity. In limited circumstances involving public housing or public facilities. These claims carry immunity defenses and much shorter notice deadlines, so they must be identified immediately.
- The assailant. Usually named, though rarely a source of recovery.
Determining who controlled what requires deeds, leases, management agreements, and security contracts — records that generally do not surface until someone demands them. This is the same investigative work described on our page about filing a lawsuit.
Proving Foreseeability: The Evidence That Decides These Cases
Negligent security claims are evidence-intensive, and much of the necessary evidence is in the defendant’s possession or disappears quickly.
Prior Incident Evidence
- Police calls for service for the specific address. Law enforcement agencies maintain records of calls dispatched to a location. A multi-year history of violent calls to one apartment complex is powerful proof that the owner knew or should have known.
- Police reports for prior crimes on the property. Establishing the type, severity, and location of each incident.
- The property’s own incident reports. Internal documentation the owner created, which frequently shows a pattern the company never disclosed publicly.
- Tenant and customer complaints. Emails, maintenance requests, portal messages, resident meeting minutes, and online reviews describing safety problems.
- Prior lawsuits and claims against the property. Often the clearest evidence of actual knowledge.
- Internal risk assessments and insurance loss-control reports. Insurers frequently inspect insured properties and recommend security improvements. A report recommending lighting upgrades that were never made is devastating to the defense.
Evidence About the Security That Existed
- Surveillance footage from the property and from neighboring businesses
- Camera system service records showing whether the system worked
- Maintenance and work-order records for lights, gates, locks, and doors
- Security guard contracts, post orders, patrol logs, and shift schedules
- Employee training materials and corporate security policies
- Leasing brochures, websites, and advertisements promising security features
- Photographs and lighting measurements taken at the same hour as the attack
Why Speed Matters
Surveillance systems commonly overwrite within seven to thirty days. Burned-out lights get replaced the week after an incident. Broken gates get repaired. Overgrown landscaping gets trimmed. Staff turn over and stop being available.
A preservation letter sent early puts the property owner on formal notice that specific evidence must be retained and that destroying it carries consequences. It costs nothing to send and frequently cannot be replaced later. If you take one thing from this page, let it be that the call should not wait for the criminal case.
Security Experts
Serious negligent security cases generally require a qualified security expert who can testify about the standard of care for that type of property — what a reasonable apartment complex, hotel, or garage with this incident history should have had in place, and how the defendant’s actual measures fell short. Crime analysts and lighting experts are often involved as well.
How Your Civil Claim Interacts With the Criminal Case
Victims frequently assume they have to wait. That assumption is the most costly misconception in this area of law.
- The deadlines are independent. Your civil filing deadline runs from the date of injury regardless of what the prosecution does.
- Evidence will not survive the wait. A prosecution can take a year or more. The property’s video will be gone long before it concludes.
- The criminal case can help your civil case. Police investigation, witness statements, and a conviction can all support the civil claim, and a conviction may be usable against the assailant.
- You have rights as a crime victim. Ohio’s constitutional crime victim provisions, often called Marsy’s Law, give victims rights in the criminal process including notice and the right to be heard. The Supreme Court of Ohio’s crime victim rights resources explain these in detail.
- Restitution is not full compensation. Criminal restitution is generally limited to documented economic loss and depends on the defendant’s ability to pay. It does not cover pain, suffering, or long-term consequences.
- State compensation may be available now. The Ohio Victims of Crime Compensation Program can reimburse certain expenses while everything else is pending, and denials can be appealed to the Ohio Court of Claims.
Pursuing a civil claim does not interfere with the prosecution, and we coordinate so that you remain fully cooperative with investigators and prosecutors.
Defenses You Should Expect the Property Owner to Raise
Knowing the defense playbook in advance makes it far less effective.
- “The crime was not foreseeable.” The primary defense, argued on summary judgment, and the reason foreseeability evidence tied to the specific address is the core of the case.
- “We did not control that area.” The possession and control argument discussed above, common in shopping center, multi-tenant, and adjacent-lot cases.
- “The criminal act was a superseding cause.” The argument that the assailant’s independent decision broke the chain of causation. It carries less weight when the whole point of the required security was to prevent that kind of act.
- “We are not insurers of safety.” True as a statement of law, and not a defense to ignoring a documented pattern of violence.
- “You were partly at fault.” Expect arguments that you went somewhere you should not have, ignored a warning, provoked the encounter, were intoxicated, or were involved in the dispute that led to the attack.
- Attacks on your background. Prior criminal history, prior claims, social media, and personal relationships are routinely examined. Tell your attorney about anything difficult early rather than letting the defense find it first.
- “Security measures were reasonable.” Met with expert testimony about the standard of care for that property type and incident history.
- Empty-chair blame. Pointing at the unidentified assailant, another tenant, a contractor, or a co-defendant to fragment responsibility.
Ohio Laws That Affect Your Negligent Security Claim
Deadline to File
Under Ohio Revised Code 2305.10, an action for bodily injury generally must be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues. A wrongful death action under Ohio Revised Code 2125.02 generally must be commenced within two years after the date of death.
Claims involving minors, claims against government entities, and certain other circumstances follow different timelines, and public-entity claims can carry much shorter notice requirements. Confirm the applicable deadline with an attorney rather than assuming.
Comparative Fault
Ohio applies modified comparative fault. Under Ohio Revised Code 2315.33, your own contributory fault does not bar recovery so long as it is not greater than the combined fault of everyone else responsible, and your compensatory damages are reduced in proportion to your share. A plaintiff found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing.
In negligent security cases this typically surfaces as an argument that you contributed to the confrontation, that you were impaired, or that you disregarded an obvious danger. Every percentage point shifted away from you is real money, which is why the factual reconstruction matters.
Damages and Ohio’s Cap
Ohio does not cap economic damages such as medical expenses, future care, counseling, and lost earning capacity. Noneconomic damages are limited in many tort actions under Ohio Revised Code 2315.18, with an important exception for the most serious injuries — permanent and substantial physical deformity, loss of use of a limb, loss of a bodily organ system, and permanent physical functional injury preventing independent self-care.
This exception deserves particular attention in negligent security cases. Gunshot wounds, stabbings, and severe beatings frequently produce injuries falling within it. But psychological injury alone, however devastating, may not — which is one reason thorough documentation of every physical consequence matters, and why the economic components of a claim, including a lifetime of mental health treatment, need to be developed carefully. The cap does not apply to wrongful death actions.
Punitive Damages
Where a property owner acted with conscious disregard for the safety of others — ignoring years of documented violence, instructing staff not to call police, or concealing a known danger from tenants — punitive damages may be available. Ohio limits punitive awards by statute, but the conduct supporting them also tends to increase a case’s compensatory value substantially.
Compensation Available in a Columbus Negligent Security Case
The categories below are developed in more detail on our page about accident compensation.
Economic Losses
- Emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation
- Future medical care, revision surgeries, and assistive equipment
- Psychological care, including therapy and psychiatric treatment over the long term
- Attendant care and home modification for permanent disability
- Lost wages, lost benefits, and diminished earning capacity
- Relocation costs where the survivor cannot safely remain in the residence
- Out-of-pocket expenses and household services no longer possible
Noneconomic Losses
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement, scarring, and permanent disability
- Loss of consortium for a spouse
Common Injuries in These Cases
- Traumatic brain injuries from blows to the head or falls during an assault
- Gunshot wounds, including organ damage, nerve injury, and retained fragments
- Stab wounds and lacerations requiring reconstructive surgery
- Spinal cord injuries and paralysis
- Facial fractures, dental injuries, vision loss, and hearing loss
- Catastrophic injuries requiring lifetime care
- Post-traumatic stress disorder and other lasting psychological harm, which in these cases is often the most disabling injury of all
Insurance: Where the Recovery Actually Comes From
This is the least-discussed and most consequential part of a negligent security case. Liability without collectible insurance produces a judgment nobody can pay.
The Policies That May Respond
- The property owner’s commercial general liability policy. The primary source in most cases.
- The property management company’s policy. Separate entity, separate coverage.
- The security contractor’s policy. Where a guard company was involved.
- Umbrella and excess policies. Frequently held by larger owners and not volunteered.
- Liquor liability coverage. Applicable to permit holders in venue cases.
- A franchisor’s policy. Where a national brand retained operational control.
Assault and Battery Exclusions
Here is the issue that catches people by surprise. Many commercial general liability policies written for bars, nightclubs, apartment complexes, and other higher-risk properties contain an assault and battery exclusion. Insurers added these precisely because they did not want to cover claims arising out of violent acts.
The exclusions vary widely. Some are broad. Some carve out claims framed as negligent hiring, training, or supervision. Some contain sublimits providing partial coverage. Some are ambiguous enough to be contested. Whether one applies to your claim depends on the exact policy language and how the claim is pleaded.
Two things follow from this. First, obtaining the actual policy — not the insurer’s summary of it — is essential early work. Second, how a negligent security claim is framed from the outset can affect whether coverage responds at all. That is a strategic decision that has to be made before a complaint is filed, not after.
If Your Family Lost Someone to Violence on Another Party’s Property
Homicides on apartment properties, at nightclubs, and in parking lots are among the most difficult cases we handle, and among the most important. If your family is in this position, we are sorry.
In Ohio, a wrongful death claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents, with other next of kin also able to recover. Compensable losses include lost financial support, lost services, funeral and burial expenses, and the family’s loss of society, companionship, care, and guidance. Our Columbus wrongful death attorney page explains the process, including how an estate is opened and who has authority to bring the claim.
A first conversation commits you to nothing. It costs nothing. And it can preserve evidence that will otherwise be gone in a matter of weeks.
Talk to a Columbus Negligent Security Attorney Today
Call 614-300-5000 or 866-866-8058. Consultations are free and available 24/7. You pay no legal fee unless we win.
You can also contact our Columbus office or request a free case evaluation online. Hablo Español.
How a Negligent Security Case Gets Built
People often hesitate to call because they do not know what they are agreeing to. Here is what actually happens.
- Free consultation. We listen, answer questions, and tell you candidly whether we believe a claim is viable under Ohio’s foreseeability and control requirements. No charge, no obligation.
- Immediate evidence preservation. Preservation letters go to the property owner, the management company, and any security contractor, demanding retention of video, incident reports, maintenance records, and personnel files.
- Ownership and control investigation. Deeds, leases, and management agreements establish exactly who controlled the location of the attack.
- Foreseeability workup. Public records requests for calls for service and prior police reports at the address, review of complaints and online reports, and assembly of the incident history.
- Scene documentation. Photographs and lighting assessment at the same time of day and under similar conditions, before the property is changed.
- Coordination with the criminal case. We work alongside the prosecution so that your cooperation as a victim and your civil claim reinforce rather than complicate each other.
- Medical and psychological documentation. Treating providers, and where warranted life care planners and economists, establish what the injury will cost over a lifetime.
- Coverage investigation. Identifying every policy and reviewing actual policy language, including any assault and battery exclusion.
- Expert analysis. A security expert measures what the property had against the standard of care for that property type and history.
- Demand and negotiation. A documented demand goes to the carriers. Many cases resolve here once the foreseeability record is undeniable.
- Litigation if necessary. Suit is filed, typically in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas or the appropriate venue, and the case proceeds through discovery, summary judgment, and trial if required.
What to Do After You Were Attacked on Someone Else’s Property
- Get medical attention, and be complete about it. Document every injury, including those that seem minor. Tell providers what happened so the record connects the injuries to the attack.
- Report the crime to police. An official report is important to the civil claim and is generally required for state victim compensation.
- Report the incident to the property in writing. Email the leasing office, the manager, or corporate. A written report creates a record the property cannot later deny receiving.
- Photograph the scene. Lighting, broken gates or locks, camera positions, overgrown landscaping, and the exact location. If you cannot, ask someone to do it quickly, and take photos at the same hour the attack occurred.
- Ask that video be preserved, in writing. Send a written request that day if possible. Note who you sent it to and when.
- Collect witness information. Neighbors, other patrons, employees, and anyone who has complained about safety at the property before.
- Gather your own prior complaints. Maintenance requests, emails, texts, and portal messages about lighting, locks, gates, or safety are among the most valuable documents in the case.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the property’s insurer. You are not obligated to, and the questions are designed to establish your fault.
- Do not sign anything or accept an early payment. Early offers arrive before anyone knows what long-term care will cost, and releases generally cannot be undone.
- Be careful on social media. Assume everything you post will be read by defense counsel.
- Call an attorney quickly. Video retention windows are measured in days.
What It Costs to Hire Us
Nothing up front. Negligent security cases are handled on a contingency fee, meaning the attorney fee is a percentage of what is recovered. There is no hourly billing, no retainer, and no fee at all if there is no recovery.
The consultation is free and is a real evaluation rather than a sales call. If we do not believe the foreseeability and control requirements can be met, we will tell you, and you will have lost nothing but the time it took to ask.
Why Choose Michael D. Christensen Law Offices
Attorney Mike Christensen has represented injured people and grieving families throughout greater Columbus for years, handling serious injury and wrongful death matters. Negligent security cases sit at the intersection of premises liability, criminal investigation, insurance coverage, and expert proof, and they reward early, thorough work more than almost any other kind of injury claim.
- Local and reachable. Our office is at 3341 W. Broad Street in Columbus, serving Franklin County and the surrounding counties.
- Fast evidence preservation. Preservation demands go out early, while video still exists and the property has not been repaired.
- Every defendant and every policy considered. Owner, manager, operator, franchisor, and security contractor, with actual policy language reviewed rather than assumed.
- Sensitivity where it is needed. Assault and sexual assault survivors set the pace of their own cases.
- Direct communication. You will know what is happening and who to call about it.
- No fee unless you win. No upfront cost and no hourly billing.
- Hablo Español. Spanish-language assistance is available.
- Available 24/7. Violent crime does not happen on a schedule.
Free Consultation With a Columbus Negligent Security Lawyer
If you were attacked on someone else’s property and believe it could have been prevented, call 614-300-5000 now. The consultation is free, the call is confidential, and you owe no fee unless we recover for you.
Columbus Negligent Security Claims & Lawyer FAQs
What is Negligent Security?
Negligent security is a premises liability claim brought when someone is attacked on another party’s property because the owner failed to provide reasonable security against foreseeable crime. Common failures include broken locks, burned-out lighting, non-working cameras, and absent security staff at properties with a documented history of violence.
Can I Sue a Property Owner if Someone Else Attacked Me?
Yes, if the attack was foreseeable and the owner controlled the property where it happened. Ohio law does not make owners insurers of your safety, but a business or landlord that knew or should have known of a substantial risk of harm can be liable for failing to warn or protect against it.
Do I Need the Attacker to Be Caught or Convicted First?
No. A negligent security claim runs against the property owner, not the assailant, and does not depend on an arrest or conviction. Many strong claims involve attackers who were never identified. What matters is what the property owner knew about the risk and what reasonable security it failed to provide.
Can I Sue My Apartment Complex After an Assault?
Often yes. Landlords control common areas, parking lots, stairwells, laundry rooms, and entry systems, and Ohio law requires them to keep those areas in a fit and safe condition. Broken gates, failed entry doors, unrepaired locks, dead lighting, and ignored tenant complaints all support a claim.
Can I Sue a Bar or Nightclub After Being Assaulted There?
Yes, and there may be two separate claims. A negligent security claim addresses inadequate staffing, crowd control, and failure to intervene. Ohio’s dram shop statute can add a claim if the venue knowingly served a noticeably intoxicated person whose intoxication proximately caused the harm.
How Long Do I Have to File a Negligent Security Claim in Ohio?
Ohio generally allows two years from the date of injury for a personal injury lawsuit, and two years from the date of death for wrongful death. Claims against government entities carry shorter notice deadlines. Waiting is risky regardless, because surveillance video is often overwritten within days.
What if I Was Attacked in a Parking Lot the Business Does Not Own?
This is a critical issue in Ohio. The duty to protect invitees generally extends only to premises the business possesses and controls. If the attack occurred on adjacent land the business did not control, the claim may fail against that business, though the actual owner or a management company may still be liable.
How Much is a Negligent Security Case Worth in Columbus?
Value depends on injury severity, permanence, lifetime medical and counseling costs, lost earning capacity, and available insurance. Gunshot wounds, brain injuries, and sexual assault claims often carry substantial value. Coverage limits and policy exclusions frequently matter as much as liability, which is why early investigation is essential.
What Evidence Proves a Negligent Security Case?
Surveillance video, prior incident reports, police calls-for-service records for the address, tenant and customer complaints, security contracts and guard logs, lighting and maintenance records, staffing schedules, and internal risk assessments. A qualified security expert then measures those facts against accepted industry practice for that type of property.
Can I File a Claim if I Was Sexually Assaulted on a Property?
Yes. Sexual assault survivors can bring negligent security claims against hotels, apartment complexes, parking garages, and other properties that failed to provide reasonable security. Courts sometimes allow survivors to proceed using a pseudonym, and protective orders can limit disclosure. Discuss privacy options with an attorney before filing.
What if the Property Already Had Security Guards?
Having guards does not end the analysis. Claims often turn on whether guards were adequately trained, properly deployed, present at the right hours, actually patrolling, or whether they failed to intervene or call police. Guard company contracts, post orders, and shift logs frequently reveal the gap.
Does It Hurt My Case if I Had Been Drinking?
Not necessarily. Ohio uses modified comparative fault, so your recovery is reduced by your share of fault and barred only if you were more than 50 percent responsible. Being a patron at a bar is expected conduct, and venues owe duties precisely because alcohol increases the risk of violence.
Can My Family File a Claim if a Loved One Was Killed?
Yes. The estate’s personal representative can bring a wrongful death claim for the benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents. Recoverable losses include lost financial support, lost services, funeral costs, and loss of companionship. Ohio’s noneconomic damage caps do not apply to wrongful death claims.
How Much Does a Columbus Negligent Security Attorney Cost?
Michael D. Christensen Law Offices handles negligent security cases on a contingency fee. There is no upfront cost, no hourly billing, and no fee at all unless we recover compensation for you. The initial consultation is free and creates no obligation to hire the firm.
Should I Wait Until the Criminal Case is Finished Before Calling a Lawyer?
No. The civil and criminal cases are separate, and waiting costs you evidence. Surveillance footage is routinely overwritten within days or weeks, and the two-year civil deadline runs independently of the prosecution. An attorney can preserve evidence now while cooperating fully with investigators.
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