Negligent Security Claims

The Legal StandardWhat Makes a Property Owner Responsible for a Crime

The central question in every negligent security case is foreseeability: did the property owner know, or should they have known, that criminal activity was a foreseeable risk at this location — and did they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent it?

Evidence of foreseeability includes prior crimes at the same property, police calls for service in the area, the owner's own knowledge of security problems, inadequate or broken security measures, and the general crime environment of the surrounding neighborhood. This is why incident logs, security camera records, and property management communications are so important to gather quickly — and why they can disappear fast.

This page provides general information about Washington law and is not legal advice. Whether a viable claim exists depends on the specific facts of your situation; contact us to discuss your case.

Where It HappensCommon Settings for Negligent Security Claims in Puyallup

South Hill and the broader Puyallup area has a mix of high-density rental housing, retail centers, and large public venues — exactly the property types where negligent security claims arise most frequently:

• Apartment and rental complexes — owners and property managers owe tenants and visitors a duty to maintain safe common areas, working locks, adequate lighting in parking lots and hallways, and responsive maintenance of broken security features.
• Retail and shopping centers — parking lots and common areas at commercial properties are a frequent scene of assaults, robberies, and carjackings, particularly after dark.
• Hotels and motels — guests have a heightened expectation of security; inadequate door locks, broken exterior lighting, or unstaffed entrances can support a claim when a guest is assaulted.
• Bars and nightclubs — establishments serving alcohol have a duty to maintain reasonable crowd control and security staffing to prevent foreseeable violence on premises.
• The Washington State Fairgrounds — the annual Fair brings large crowds and creates elevated security obligations for the venue operator during the event period.
• Parking garages and lots — isolated, low-traffic environments where lighting and access control failures create foreseeable assault risk.

The ClaimWhat a Negligent Security Case Involves

A negligent security claim has three things to establish: that the property owner owed a duty of care, that the owner breached that duty through inadequate security, and that the breach caused or contributed to the criminal incident that injured you. The case is against the property owner for their failure to act — not against the criminal, though a separate civil claim against the perpetrator may also exist.

• Security failures that commonly support a claim: broken or bypassed locks, burned-out or absent exterior lighting, non-functional security cameras, no security personnel where the property's history warranted them, failure to respond to prior complaints.
• What we look for: prior incident reports at the property, police call logs for the address, property management maintenance and complaint records, security camera footage, and the physical condition of the property at the time of the incident.

Civil vs. CriminalYour Civil Claim Is Separate From Any Criminal Case

This distinction surprises many victims, and it matters practically.

• A criminal case is brought by the state against the perpetrator. You don't control it, and its outcome doesn't control your civil case.
• A civil negligent security claim is brought by you against the property owner for their failure to prevent a foreseeable crime. A criminal conviction is not required — and a criminal acquittal doesn't bar your civil claim.
• The two proceedings use different standards of proof. A civil claim requires a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not — which is a lower bar than the criminal "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard.

In practice this means you don't have to wait for a criminal case to conclude before pursuing a civil claim, and the property owner's liability is evaluated on its own evidence independently of what happened to the perpetrator in court.

Washington LawDeadlines & Comparative Fault

We handle negligent security claims on a contingency-fee basis — no attorney fee upfront, a fee only if we recover for you. You work directly with Rob Lloyd and Tim Greene from the first consultation through resolution.