If you were assaulted, robbed, or harmed by a criminal on a property that lacked adequate security, California law may hold the property owner liable, not just the attacker. The Injury Partners represents negligent security victims across Beverly Hills and Los Angeles County, building the foreseeability case that these claims turn on. Attorney Omeed Hakimianpour is a Super Lawyers® Rising Star for 2025 and 2026 (top 2.5% of California attorneys). You pay nothing unless we win. Call (310) 220-0066 for a free 24/7 consultation.
What Is Negligent Security Under California Law?
Negligent security is a category of premises liability that holds a property owner liable when they fail to provide reasonable security measures against foreseeable criminal acts, and that failure allows a third party to harm someone lawfully on the property. The concept that stops most victims from calling an attorney is this: they assume the criminal is the only one responsible. The criminal who committed the act is responsible, but the property owner can also be liable for making the crime possible by failing to secure the premises.
California Civil Code § 1714 establishes the statutory foundation. Every person is responsible for injuries caused by their failure to exercise ordinary care. For property owners, this means maintaining the property in a reasonably safe condition, which includes providing security measures that match the foreseeable risk of criminal activity. The central question in every negligent security case is foreseeability: did the property owner know, or should they have known, that a crime like this could happen on their property?
Is Negligent Security the Same as Premises Liability?
Negligent security is a subset of premises liability, not a separate area of law. General premises liability covers physical hazards on a property, such as wet floors, broken stairs, or defective equipment. A slip and fall claim is a typical example. Negligent security specifically involves harm caused by a third-party criminal act that adequate security measures could have prevented. The legal framework is the same, but the proof required is different because the property owner’s failure must be connected to a foreseeable criminal risk, not just a physical hazard.
Why Trust The Injury Partners for Your Negligent Security Case in Beverly Hills
From the first call, you work directly with a founding attorney who stays with your case through resolution. You will never be passed to a call center, intake team, or case manager. Negligent security cases hinge on proving foreseeability, which requires deep, hands-on investigation that cannot be delegated.
Omeed Hakimianpour: Super Lawyers® Rising Star 2025 and 2026 (top 2.5% of California attorneys), UCLA undergraduate degree, USC Gould School of Law J.D., former Kirkland & Ellis attorney who now applies corporate-litigation discipline against property owners and their insurers
Daniel Sabet: Southwestern Law School SCALE accelerated J.D. completed in two years, career focused on representing victims of negligence and violent injury
$1M+ recovered for clients (past results do not guarantee future outcomes; every case is unique)
00 Google rating
Contingency fee basis: you pay nothing unless we win
24/7 availability from the Beverly Hills office at 499 N. Canon Dr., Suite B1, CA 90210
The Injury Partners coordinates with investigators, security-industry experts, and litigation professionals to prove that the crime on your property was foreseeable and preventable. As Beverly Hills personal injury lawyers, we combine the resources of a top-tier firm with the personal attention of a boutique practice.
What Customers Say About Our Firm
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I would give more than 5 stars if I could. Omeed and team are very professional.
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Omeed did an outstanding job on my injury case. From day one, he was professional, detail oriented, and on top of everything. Nothing slipped through the cracks. He took the time to understand every part of my case and built a strong, well thought out strategy.
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Where Negligent Security Incidents Happen in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles County
Negligent security incidents occur on any property where the owner fails to address foreseeable criminal risk. Beverly Hills and the surrounding Los Angeles County area combine high foot traffic, luxury retail along Rodeo Drive, active nightlife, and dense residential housing, all contexts where inadequate security can lead to foreseeable crime. The most common property types include:
Apartment complexes and residential buildings, including parking garages, stairwells, laundry rooms, mailrooms, and entryways
Hotels and motels
Bars, nightclubs, and lounges, where alcohol service and late-night hours create elevated foreseeability of assaults
Restaurants
Shopping malls and retail stores, including the high-end retail corridors throughout Beverly Hills
Parking structures and parking lots
ATM areas and bank vestibules
Gas stations and convenience stores
Office buildings and event venues
Rideshare pickup zones
Can I Sue an Apartment Complex for an Assault in California?
Yes, if the assault was foreseeable and the complex failed to provide reasonable security measures. California courts recognize that apartment residents are owed a heightened duty of care in common areas where they have no choice but to pass through regularly. Broken security gates, inadequate lighting, and non-functioning cameras are among the most common failures that support these claims. If the complex had a history of criminal incidents and failed to respond with improved security, the foreseeability argument is even stronger.
What Crimes and Injuries Lead to a Negligent Security Claim?
Any violent crime that adequate security could have prevented may support a negligent security claim, including:
Bone fractures, lacerations, and internal injuries
Emotional and psychological trauma, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and social isolation
Fatal injuries
CDC data confirms that most assault injuries result from an assailant striking the victim, commonly affecting the head and trunk. Psychological injuries are real, compensable harms in California negligent security cases and are often central to the damages awarded.
What Counts as Negligent Security?
Negligent security exists when a property owner fails to implement reasonable measures that could have deterred or prevented a foreseeable crime. The failures that give rise to these claims range from broken or propped-open security gates and inadequate lighting in hallways and parking structures to non-functioning surveillance cameras, untrained or insufficient security guards, broken locks on doors and windows, and lack of access control systems. The gap between what a security contract requires and what guards actually perform on-site is often where liability is found. Security-industry experts analyze guard staffing, post orders, CCTV placement, and lighting standards to establish what a reasonable property owner should have provided.
How to Prove a Negligent Security Case in California
To win a negligent security claim under California law, you must prove four elements:
You were lawfully on the property. A guest, resident, customer, or employee qualifies as a lawful visitor. Trespassers generally cannot recover unless they were intentionally harmed.
The crime was reasonably foreseeable. The property owner knew or should have known about the risk of criminal activity on the premises.
The property owner failed to take reasonable security precautions. The owner did not implement measures that matched the foreseeable risk, such as guards, cameras, lighting, or access control.
The inadequate security was a substantial factor in causing your harm. There must be a direct causal link between the security failure and your injury, not just a general claim that better security would have helped.
Three California Supreme Court decisions shape how courts apply these elements. In Ann M. v. Pacific Plaza Shopping Center (1993) 6 Cal.4th 666, the court held that foreseeability determines the scope of a property owner’s duty to provide security. The degree of foreseeability required to impose a duty to hire guards, the court wrote, “rarely, if ever, can be proven in the absence of prior similar incidents of violent crime on the landowner’s premises.” Rowland v. Christian established the eight-factor framework California courts use to analyze whether a duty of care exists, weighing factors including the foreseeability of harm, the connection between the owner’s conduct and the injury, and the availability of insurance. In Wiener v. Southcoast Childcare Centers, the court held that the property owner must have reasonably anticipated the specific type of incident, not just crime in general.
The Injury Partners builds foreseeability cases by preserving surveillance footage before it is overwritten and obtaining crime reports from BHPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for the area surrounding the property. We retain premises-security experts who can testify to industry standards and analyze security contracts and guard post orders to expose gaps between what was promised and what was delivered.
What Does “Foreseeable” Mean in a Negligent Security Case?
Foreseeable means the property owner knew or should have known that criminal activity was likely to occur on the property. Prior similar crimes at the same location are the strongest evidence of foreseeability. If a parking garage had three robberies in the past year and the owner installed no cameras, added no lighting, and hired no guards, a fourth robbery is foreseeable under the law.
Foreseeability can also be established through the totality of circumstances: area crime statistics from BHPD or the LA County Sheriff, the nature of the business, and security-industry standards for the type of property. Nightclubs and late-night venues carry inherently higher risk. A property owner cannot claim ignorance when the evidence shows the risk was apparent.
Compensation You Can Recover in a Negligent Security Claim
No one expects to be assaulted on someone else’s property, and no one should have to pay for injuries that a locked gate, a working camera, or a security guard could have prevented. California law allows negligent security victims to recover both economic and non-economic damages through a settlement or verdict. California does not cap non-economic damages in standard premises liability cases.
Economic damages:
Emergency and ongoing medical bills, including treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other area facilities
Future medical and psychological treatment, including therapy for PTSD and trauma
Lost wages and lost earning capacity
Rehabilitation costs
Funeral and burial costs in wrongful death cases
Non-economic damages:
Pain and suffering
Emotional distress, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and social isolation
Loss of enjoyment of life
Disfigurement and permanent scarring
Loss of consortium
Punitive damages may be available under California Civil Code § 3294 in extreme cases where the property owner acted with willful and conscious disregard for others’ safety, such as ignoring repeated violent incidents on the property while refusing to implement any security measures. California follows pure comparative negligence under Li v. Yellow Cab Co., meaning you can recover even if you were partially at fault, with your award reduced by your percentage of responsibility.
How Much Is a Negligent Security Case Worth in California?
Every negligent security case produces a different outcome. The value of your claim depends on the severity of your injuries, the strength of the foreseeability evidence, the defendant’s insurance coverage, and any comparative fault. Negligent security cases can produce some of the highest premises liability settlements in California. To understand what your case may be worth, call The Injury Partners at (310) 220-0066 for a free consultation.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Negligent Security in California?
More than one party may share liability in a negligent security case, and an experienced negligent security attorney will investigate every entity with a connection to the property. The following parties can be held responsible depending on their relationship to the property and the security failure:
Landlords and property owners
Commercial property owners and businesses
Property management companies
Event venue operators
Security companies and contractors, when they failed to perform the duties outlined in their contract
Homeowners associations
Under California’s pure comparative fault system, the property owner’s negligence and the criminal’s intentional act can both be legal causes of harm. Victims often assume only the criminal is responsible, but the property owner does not escape liability simply because a third party committed the crime. If the owner’s failure to provide reasonable security was a substantial factor in allowing the crime to occur, the owner is liable for the resulting injuries.
How Long Do I Have to File a Negligent Security Lawsuit in California?
California’s statute of limitations gives you two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury claim under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. If the claim involves a government-owned property, such as a public housing complex or government building, you have just six months to file an administrative claim under Government Code § 911.2. Missing either deadline can permanently bar your claim, which is why contacting an attorney early protects both your evidence and your right to file.
Talk to The Injury Partners About Your Beverly Hills Negligent Security Claim Today
If you were hurt in an attack that better security could have prevented, you are dealing with more than physical injuries. The fear, the anger at a property owner who did nothing, and the uncertainty about what comes next are all real. You deserve attorneys who understand that and who have the legal tools to hold the property owner accountable.
The Injury Partners works on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing out of pocket and owe no attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf. Omeed and Daniel are available 24/7, and you will speak directly with an attorney from your first call. Surveillance footage and security records can be overwritten or destroyed within days of an incident. The sooner we send preservation demands and begin the foreseeability investigation, the stronger your case will be.
Call The Injury Partners today at (310) 220-0066 or email us at info@theinjurypartners.com. You can also visit our office at 499 N. Canon Dr., Suite B1, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, or contact our team online.
