Negligent Security Lawyers in Bend
Attacked where you should have been safe?
The property owner answers for it.
No one is immune to crime, and anyone can be a victim of an attack. But private property owners have a legal duty to reasonably protect guests and visitors from a criminal offense. A negligent security lawsuit could be filed against a reckless property owner if a person was injured in a criminal assault, robbery, rape, or battery. Negligent security laws are a type of premises liability law, and if you’ve been injured in a criminal attack, you need the guidance of an experienced and caring lawyer.
At Precision Litigation Northwest, we understand the emotional and physical devastation that victims of violent crime have to go through because a property owner was careless. We’re here to answer any questions you may have about your case, and we hope that our knowledge and guidance can give you some peace of mind.
Please contact our law offices today for your free injury consultation. You don’t have to pay us a dime until we obtain a settlement for you.
Negligent Security Lawsuits in Deschutes County, Oregon
Under negligent security law, a private property owner may be held liable if a crime could have been prevented or made less likely to occur if they had taken reasonable measures to secure the premises and keep people safe. Both residential and commercial property owners can be sued for negligent security.
Proving a property owner was negligent involves the concept of “foreseeability.” Most courts will determine foreseeability based on whether or not similar criminal activity had happened before, and the owner knew about it, yet did nothing to reasonably secure the property.
For example: Several carjackings had taken place in a shopping center parking lot over the course of two months. The last criminal incident resulted in a grievous injury.
In this case, the court will most likely determine that the owner had foreseeable knowledge about the high risk of crime in the area. They may be held liable for the injuries a person suffered as a result of the crime.
However, if there were no previous carjackings, the court will most likely not rule that the owner had foreseeability.
The court will look at a multitude of evidence, including how often police were called to the premises, how much crime had taken place in the past, and the nature of the previous crimes. A negligent security victim can get compensated for medical bills, lost wages, and damages for pain and suffering.
Free Negligent Security Consultation
If you’ve been injured in a violent crime, you may be able to obtain just compensation from a negligent property owner. When you contact us, we will gather all material evidence involved in your case, and we’ll work to prove the owner had foreseeable knowledge that the area was dangerous and neglected to protect innocent people.
Please contact Precision Litigation Northwest today or call us at 541-948-8830 for your free consultation.
Negligent Security lawyers near you
Serving clients in central and wider Oregon. Local pages for the communities we serve most:
Where negligent security claims come from in Bend
Bend has grown fast, and with it the places where people get attacked: apartment complexes with broken gates and dark stairwells, hotel and motel corridors, bar and restaurant parking lots downtown and in the Old Mill District, event venues, convenience stores and gas stations along US-97 and US-20, and the vacation rentals that fill Sunriver, Sisters and the west side. The property owner is not the attacker. The claim is that the owner knew this could happen here and did not take the ordinary steps that would have made it less likely.
For tenants, Oregon’s landlord-tenant law adds a specific duty. A landlord must keep the building and grounds safe for normal and reasonably foreseeable uses and keep the electrical lighting in working order (ORS 90.320). A dark parking lot, a broken entry door or a common area the landlord let deteriorate is evidence of that duty being ignored, not just an unlucky setting for a crime.
How Oregon law treats the landlord, the bar and the attacker
These cases usually involve more than one responsible party, and finding all of them is most of the work. The owner and the property manager often carry separate liability policies. A security company hired to patrol the property carries its own. If a bar or restaurant served the attacker while he was visibly intoxicated, Oregon’s alcohol-server law (ORS 471.565) can make that business responsible too, but only if written notice reaches it within 180 days of the injury. We identify every policy early, because the attacker almost never has one.
Expect the owner’s insurer to argue that you were drunk, that you provoked the attack or that you should have left sooner. Oregon’s comparative fault rule (ORS 31.600) reduces a recovery by your share of fault and bars it above 50 percent. The answer is evidence: the police report, the camera footage, the witnesses who saw what actually happened, and the property’s own history.
What we do in a negligent security case
Within days of being hired we send preservation letters to the owner, the property manager, the security contractor and any business with a camera pointed at the area, naming the footage, the access-control logs, the property’s own reports of earlier trouble and the security contracts we want kept. We request the Bend Police Department and Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office call history for the address and its neighbors, which shows what the owner knew or should have known before you were hurt.
Then we build the picture of the property: photographs of the lighting at the same hour as the attack, the condition of gates, locks and fencing, whether staff were present, earlier tenant complaints and online reviews that mention safety. Where the case calls for it, a security expert compares what a reasonable owner of that kind of property would have done with what this owner did. The criminal case against the attacker runs on its own track. We follow it for the plea, the police file and any restitution order, but we do not wait on it.
Every case is prepared for trial in Deschutes County Circuit Court. Owners and their insurers settle negligent security claims when the foreseeability evidence is in hand, and rarely before.
What to do in the first week after an attack
Get treated, at St. Charles or an urgent care, and tell the provider everything that hurts, including the nights you are not sleeping through. Report to police if you have not already, and get the case number. Photograph your injuries every few days as they change. Write down the lighting, the locks, the cameras you saw and anything you had complained about before. Keep the clothing you wore. Get the names of anyone who helped you or saw what happened. Do not post about it, and do not give the property’s insurer a recorded statement before you have talked to a lawyer. Call 541-948-8830.
What a negligent security claim includes
Emergency care, surgery and follow-up treatment. Counseling and treatment for post-traumatic stress, which is often the longest-lasting injury in an assault case. Lost income and lost earning capacity. Scarring, disability, pain and the loss of feeling safe in your own home or workplace. If the attack was fatal, the family’s claim is brought by a personal representative under Oregon’s wrongful death statute (ORS 30.020), which has its own three-year deadline. We document each of these with the treating providers so that the claim reflects the whole injury, not the emergency room bill.
Why the first offer in a negligent security case is low
The owner’s insurer usually opens by calling the attack unforeseeable and offering something close to the emergency room bill. That number reflects what the insurer hopes you know, not what the claim is worth. Our demand package answers it: the police call history for the property, the footage and the lighting photographs, the security expert’s comparison of what was known and what was done, the full medical and counseling records, the treating providers’ opinions on future care and the wage loss documentation. Health insurers and other providers who paid your bills will claim repayment from the recovery, and we negotiate those liens down before anything is distributed, so the amount you keep is the number that matters.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sue a business if I was assaulted in its parking lot?
Possibly. A property owner who knew of prior crimes on or near the property and did nothing reasonable to protect visitors, such as lighting, locks, cameras or security staff, may be liable for a foreseeable attack. The claim is against the owner or manager and their insurer, separate from any criminal case against the attacker. Foreseeability is the whole case, so records of prior police calls matter.
The person who attacked me was arrested. Why claim against the property owner too?
Because the attacker rarely has insurance or assets, and a criminal conviction does not pay medical bills. The owner’s liability insurance can. The civil claim asks a different question from the criminal case: not whether the attacker is guilty, but whether the owner could reasonably have prevented the attack. Restitution from the criminal court and a civil recovery can both proceed.
What counts as inadequate security in Oregon?
There is no fixed checklist. The standard is what a reasonable owner would do given the crime history of that property and neighborhood: working locks and lighting, cameras, trained staff, controlled access at apartments and hotels, security at bars and events. A bar that ignores repeated fights or an apartment complex with broken gates after break-ins can fall short. We compare what was known to what was done.
How long do I have to bring a negligent security claim in Oregon?
Generally two years from the injury (ORS 12.110(1)). If the property is public, such as a park, a transit stop or a school, a tort claim notice is due within 180 days (ORS 30.275). Camera footage and police call logs are the heart of these cases and are overwritten quickly, so the useful deadline is much shorter. Call 541-948-8830 for a free, confidential consultation.