What is a negligent security claim?

Where someone is assaulted, robbed, or shot on another's property, the property owner may be liable if the crime was foreseeable and reasonable security measures weren't in place.

Foreseeability is the core element, and it's usually established the same way constructive knowledge is in a slip and fall — through history. Prior crimes on the property, prior crimes in the immediate area, prior complaints from tenants or customers, and police call records for the address.

What reasonable measures look like depends on the setting: lighting, functioning locks and gates, cameras, security personnel, and controlled access.

What HB 837 changed. Comparative fault can now be apportioned to the intentional wrongdoer — the criminal — which reduces what the property owner pays. And § 768.0706 creates a presumption against liability for multifamily residential property owners who meet specified safety standards.

That presumption is significant for apartment complex cases, and whether the standards were actually met becomes the litigated question.