Las Vegas Negligent Security Lawyer: Seeking Compensation for Inadequate Property Safety

The gate at your apartment complex has been broken for months. The parking garage lights have been out since spring. Management said they’d “look into it.” Then someone got hurt, and that someone was you.

That wasn’t bad luck. When a property owner in Las Vegas ignores obvious security problems and a violent crime follows, Nevada law can hold that owner responsible. Property owners and their insurers would prefer you believe that only the attacker is to blame. That’s convenient for them. It’s often not the whole truth.

This guide explains how negligent security claims work in Clark County, what you have to prove, who can be held liable, and what to do right now to protect your case.

Quick Answer: Can You Sue a Property Owner for an Assault in Las Vegas?

Yes, in many cases. If a crime on someone else’s property was foreseeable and the owner failed to take reasonable security precautions, you may be able to recover compensation from the owner, even though a third party committed the crime. You generally have two years from the date of the injury to file suit under NRS 11.190(4)(e).

What Is Negligent Security?

Negligent security is a type of premises liability claim. The attacker is responsible for the crime. But the property owner may be responsible for making the crime easier to commit.

Nevada courts have long held that a business owes its customers a duty to use reasonable care to keep the premises reasonably safe. That duty doesn’t end when the danger comes from another person instead of a wet floor.

Common failures behind Las Vegas negligent security claims include:

• Broken or propped-open gates at apartment communities
• Burned-out or missing lighting in parking lots, garages, stairwells, and walkways
• Malfunctioning locks on doors, mailrooms, pool areas, and vacant units
• No security guards, or undertrained ones, at properties with a known crime history
• Non-working or unmonitored security cameras
• Overgrown landscaping that gives attackers a place to hide
• Ignored tenant complaints about trespassers, break-ins, or prior assaults

These cases can arise almost anywhere: apartment complexes, shopping centers, strip malls, gas stations, parking garages, bars, gyms, and motels across Clark County.

How Nevada Law Treats Negligent Security Claims

Nevada applies two related frameworks, depending on the type of property.

Hotels, Motels, and Other Lodging: NRS 651.015

For any “hotel, inn, motel, motor court, boardinghouse or lodging house,” Nevada has a specific statute, NRS 651.015. The owner is liable for injuries caused by a non-employee when:

1. The wrongful act was foreseeable, and
2. The owner failed to take reasonable precautions against it.

Under the statute, a crime counts as foreseeable when the owner failed to exercise due care for guests’ safety, or when prior similar incidents happened on the premises and the owner knew about them. A judge, not the jury, decides whether that threshold is met.

That coverage extends past the lobby. Nevada defines lodging “premises” to include parking lots and other land used with the property.

Owners like to argue that an attack came “out of nowhere.” Nevada’s highest court hasn’t made that argument easy. In Estate of Smith v. Mahoney’s Silver Nugget (2011), the court said prior similar incidents are enough to establish a duty but are not always required. In Humphries v. New York-New York Hotel & Casino (2017), it rejected a ruling that the casino had no duty just because a fight was spontaneous. The court held that prior incidents must be compared case by case, looking at how violent they were, where they happened, and what security concerns they raised.

Apartments, Shopping Centers, and Other Commercial Property

For properties outside the lodging statute, Nevada applies ordinary negligence law. You must prove four things: duty, breach, causation, and damages.

The leading Las Vegas case is Doud v. Las Vegas Hilton (1993). A man was shot after entering his motorhome in a hotel parking lot. The record showed 78 crimes in the hotel’s parking lots before the attack, including nine in that same lot. The Nevada Supreme Court looked at the totality of the circumstances and found enough evidence that a jury could consider the attack foreseeable. The court also stressed that negligence and causation are generally questions for the jury.

For renters, the key case is Scialabba v. Brandise Construction (1996). A Las Vegas tenant was stabbed outside her apartment by an attacker who had hidden in a vacant unit across the hall. That unit had been left unlocked. The court held that unsecured vacant apartments create a foreseeable risk of harm to tenants, even if the specific violent crime wasn’t predicted. The tenant also sued the owner, the property manager, and the security company. She settled with the owner and manager before trial.

The takeaway: A property doesn’t need a written invitation from a criminal to be on notice. Crime history, the property’s condition, and ignored complaints can all establish that the danger was foreseeable.

Who Can Be Held Liable?

Negligent security cases often involve more than one defendant. Depending on the facts, liability may fall on:

• The property owner, including out-of-state investment companies that own Las Vegas apartment portfolios
• The property management company that controls day-to-day maintenance and security decisions
• A private security contractor that failed to patrol, respond, or follow its own post orders
• Contractors or maintenance vendors who left doors unlocked or equipment broken (Scialabba shows this can happen)
• Parking garage operators that run the facility under a lease or management agreement

What about an attack in an unlit parking garage? The answer turns on who controlled the lighting and security, and who knew it was failing. Leases, management contracts, work orders, and maintenance logs usually settle that question. That paperwork rarely surfaces unless a lawyer demands it.

Fault is divided among the parties. Under NRS 41.141, each defendant generally pays only its own share. You can still recover as long as your own share of fault isn’t greater than the defendants’ combined share. Expect the owner’s insurer to argue you were “in the wrong place” or “should have been more careful.” A good attorney won’t let that story go unchallenged.

How Lawyers Prove a Crime Was Foreseeable

Foreseeability usually decides whether a negligent security case lives or dies. Strong cases are built on evidence like:

• Police calls-for-service records for the property address and surrounding blocks
• Prior incident reports kept by management or security
• Tenant complaints, emails, and repair requests about broken gates, locks, and lights
• Security company contracts and patrol logs showing what was promised versus what was delivered
• Surveillance footage, or proof that cameras were broken or unmonitored
• Maintenance records showing how long a hazard went unfixed
• Expert testimony from security professionals on what a reasonable property would have done

Much of this evidence is controlled by the property owner, and some of it gets erased or “lost” quickly. Surveillance systems commonly record over old footage on a rolling basis. That’s why speed matters.

Steps to Take After an Assault on Someone Else’s Property

1. Get medical care immediately. Your health comes first. Medical records also document your injuries from day one.
2. Report the crime to police. Ask for the report number. Nevada’s Victims of Crime Program requires the crime to be reported to law enforcement within five days to qualify for help.
3. Report the incident to property management in writing. Keep a copy. Don’t sign anything they hand you.
4. Photograph the scene as soon as it’s safe to do so: broken gates, dark light fixtures, faulty locks, missing cameras, overgrown bushes.
5. Write down witness names and contact information.
6. Save your prior complaints. Emails, texts, and portal repair requests about security problems are powerful evidence. Tenants can also send formal written notice of habitability problems, which Nevada law requires before certain remedies. Nevada Legal Services explains the 14-day notice rule.
7. Don’t give a recorded statement to the owner’s insurer. Adjusters are trained to collect statements that shrink your claim.
8. Talk to a Las Vegas negligent security lawyer quickly. A lawyer can send preservation letters before footage and records disappear.

What Compensation Can You Recover?

Nevada allows injured people to seek:

• Medical expenses, past and future
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional trauma, including anxiety, PTSD, and sleep disruption, which are common after violent crime
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Wrongful death damages for families who lost someone to a preventable attack

In rare cases involving conscious disregard for safety, NRS 42.005 allows punitive damages. They require clear and convincing evidence, and statutory limits apply.

Victims may also apply to Nevada’s Victims of Crime Program, which can help with hospital bills, counseling, and lost wages. That program does not pay for pain and suffering, which is one reason a civil claim often matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Owner Had a Choice. You Didn’t.

Fixing a gate costs money. Replacing garage lights costs money. Hiring a guard costs money. Some property owners decide those costs aren’t worth it, until someone gets hurt and the bill comes due. Their insurers will work hard to make sure it never does.

Sam & Ash Injury Law stands between you and them. We dig into crime histories, maintenance records, and security contracts to show what the owner knew and when. Whether your case is worth $15,000 or $1.5 million, you get the same fight. Consultations are free, available 24/7, and you owe nothing unless we win.

Call Nevada at 702-857-6566 or our general line at 1-877-658-9951. The first conversation is free, and so is the honesty. If a property owner’s shortcuts put you in harm’s way, we’ll make them answer for it.

This article provides general information, not legal advice. Every case depends on its facts.