Elyria Negligent Security Lawyer | Call (216) 931-7000

Negligent security claims often involve disputed responsibility: an insurer may argue that the attack was unforeseeable, that another company controlled the property, or that better security would not have prevented the harm.

Frank Piscitelli brings serious-injury litigation experience to these disputes, supported by a record of trial preparation, documented results, and direct attorney involvement.

Our law firm offers Elyria clients several specific advantages:

• More than 30 years representing injured Ohioans: Frank has handled complex personal injury, catastrophic-injury, and wrongful death cases, including matters involving substantial medical costs and disputed liability.
• Published results in serious injury cases: Frank’s case results include a $5.8 million medical malpractice verdict, a $4.1 million wrongful death settlement, and a $2 million amusement park injury settlement.These results demonstrate his experience with serious injury litigation, although they involve different types of claims and do not predict the outcome of a negligent security case.

• Trial preparation and training: Frank’s professional background includes graduation from Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College, and his firm describes a willingness to take disputed cases to trial when a reasonable settlement cannot be reached.
• Direct attention rather than a high-volume model: Frank deliberately limits his caseload, personally directs the cases he accepts, and remains involved in major decisions about investigation, negotiation, and litigation.
• Local access and clear communication: Our office at 424 Middle Avenue, Suite 1, Elyria, Ohio 44035 serves clients in Lorain County, with an opportunity to discuss the case directly with Frank.

How Can a Negligent Security Lawyer Help?

A negligent security attorney evaluates both what the property defendant knew before the attack and whether a security failure contributed to the injuries.

Public police-call histories, earlier complaints, security contracts, footage, and medical records may help answer those questions.

Local familiarity can help identify where to request police records, but it does not grant special access to confidential investigative material.

Frank discusses the available evidence, settlement proposals, and litigation options with clients so they can make informed decisions about their cases.

Negligent security is a type of premises liability claim involving injuries caused by a property operator’s alleged failure to take reasonable precautions against foreseeable criminal activity.

In Ohio, a business owner may owe customers and other invitees reasonable protection or a warning when it knows or should know of a substantial risk of foreseeable harm on premises under its control.

The property owner’s duty depends on the relationship with the visitor, where the attack happened, what danger was known, and what security precautions were reasonable there.

A negligence claim generally requires proof that:

• The defendant owed a legal duty under the circumstances
• The defendant failed to meet that duty
• The failure caused or contributed to the injury
• The injured person suffered compensable losses

An attacker may face charges in criminal court, while an injured person may pursue a separate negligence action in civil court against a property defendant.

A claim against the property operator does not require proof that it committed the attack or that the attacker was convicted.

What Makes Criminal Harm Foreseeable?

The central question is what a reasonable property operator knew or should have anticipated before the incident, rather than whether an attack seems preventable afterward.

Prior comparable crimes, specific threats, repeated disturbances, police calls, and complaints to management can be relevant.

Their value depends on details such as when and where they occurred, their similarity to the later attack, and whether the defendant knew or had reason to know about them.

A prior incident does not always have to be identical to the new attack, but general concerns about crime in a neighborhood do not automatically establish a substantial risk at every nearby property.

When a property owner fails to provide adequate security measures, a civil claim still requires proof of a legal duty and a causal link to the injury; cameras and guards are not required everywhere simply because crime is possible.

These claims may arise after assaults, robberies, shootings, or sexual violence, including rape, at businesses, residential properties, and other private property.

Crime victims may suffer serious physical injuries and psychological trauma, but an attack alone does not establish a property defendant’s negligence.

The location can affect both who had responsibility for security and which precautions were reasonable.

Apartment Buildings and Rental Properties

Apartment security disputes may involve an attack in a common hallway, entryway, stairwell, laundry room, or parking area.

Broken entrances, ignored threats, repeated unauthorized entry, and defective alarm systems may be relevant when the landlord or management company knew about the danger.

Under Ohio Revised Code § 5321.04, residential landlords have statutory obligations involving applicable safety codes, necessary repairs, and safe common areas.

A landlord’s responsibility for a criminal attack depends on the applicable duties, the risks known before the incident, and whether an unreasonable failure to address those risks contributed to the injuries.

A claim still requires analysis of the particular duty, notice, control, and connection between the alleged failure and the attack.

Parking Lots, Garages, and Retail Properties

A violent attack may occur near a store entrance, in a parking garage, or in a shopping center’s common area.

Security concerns may involve poor lighting, broken gates, disabled security cameras, prior attacks, or documented problems with patrols and emergency response.

An important Ohio distinction is that a store may not control the parking lot where its customer was attacked.

The shopping-center owner, property manager, or parking operator may instead control that location and its security decisions.

Leases and management agreements may help identify the responsible party.

Hotels, Bars, Restaurants, and Entertainment Venues

Hotels, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and gas stations may encounter security questions involving violent disturbances, broken access controls, inadequate lighting, or staff responses to reported threats.

Whether additional precautions were reasonable depends on the specific property’s operations, prior incidents, and what staff knew before the attack.

For example, staff may have received repeated reports about a violent patron before another guest was injured, or management may have left a repeatedly reported entrance problem unresolved.

Hospitals and other commercial properties can also face security concerns, but an assault alone does not establish a failure to provide proper security under the circumstances.

A person injured on someone else’s property may need to identify the party responsible for security rather than assume the titled owner controlled the location.

Potential defendants may include:

• A property owner or landlord
• A store, hotel, restaurant, or other business operator
• A property-management or parking company
• A security contractor or guard employer
• An event operator that controlled the space or security arrangements

Commercial property owners, tenants, and contractors may control different parts of the site, including entrances, common areas, parking, security systems, lighting, and guard schedules.

A security contractor’s responsibility may also depend on which services it agreed to provide and what its employees actually did.

Identifying a security contract alone does not establish that the hiring business or contractor is liable for the attack.

The legal claim depends on each defendant’s control, knowledge, and duties rather than assuming that every party must make the property safe against any conceivable crime.

A strong claim requires more than proof that a crime happened near a broken light or security camera; the injured person must connect negligent security measures to the foreseeable attack.

The evidence must address foreseeability, responsibility, causation, and damages.

Important records may include:

• Prior risk: Police calls, reports of earlier violence, threats, and tenant or customer complaints
• Property security: Photographs of doors, locks, lighting, gates, and conditions at the time of the attack
• Incident evidence: Police reports, surveillance footage, witness accounts, and relevant messages
• Responsibility: Leases, property-management agreements, security contracts, and patrol assignments
• Internal response: Repair requests, prior warnings, staffing records, and incident logs
• Injuries and losses: Medical treatment, counseling records, wage information, and documentation of continuing limitations

Prior reports may help establish what defendants knew before an attack, but their timing, nature, and connection to the property matter.

What if the Property Owner Blames the Attacker?

Defendants may argue that the attacker’s independent actions, rather than inadequate security or the property owner’s failure to respond, caused the harm.

The claim must address whether the criminal act was a foreseeable risk that reasonable precautions could have reduced and whether the alleged failure contributed to the specific injury.

Video may help show how an attacker entered, how an incident developed, or whether assigned security personnel were present, but footage by itself does not resolve every dispute.

Medical records also remain important because the attack’s physical and psychological consequences must be distinguished from unrelated conditions.

Immediate safety and medical treatment come before documenting a legal claim.

If there is an ongoing threat, move to a safer location when possible and contact emergency services.

After urgent needs are addressed, consider these steps:

1. Document where the incident occurred: Save the address, date, time, and exact entrance, hallway, parking space, or other location involved.
2. Preserve what you have: Keep photographs, relevant messages, witness contact information, and records of prior complaints about security.
3. Seek appropriate care: Follow medical recommendations and document physical symptoms, emotional effects, and work limitations.
4. Consider a police report: Request available incident information when appropriate, recognizing that an ongoing investigation may limit public access.
5. Request preservation promptly: Surveillance footage, gate-access data, guard logs, and other security records may be overwritten before a negligence claim is filed.
6. Review insurance paperwork: Understand the purpose of any requested recorded statement, medical release, or proposed settlement before signing.

Sexual assault survivors may also have distinct medical, privacy, and safety needs.

A criminal investigation and a civil case may proceed separately, and the attacker need not be convicted before a civil negligence claim can be evaluated.

When a property owner’s negligence contributes to a foreseeable criminal attack, the injured person may seek compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and other legally recoverable losses.

Recoverable losses may include:

• Emergency treatment, hospitalization, and related medical costs
• Counseling or other mental-health treatment related to the incident
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
• Rehabilitation, reasonably supported future costs, and necessary assistance
• Physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and emotional distress
• Scarring, permanent injury, and lasting effects on daily life

Necessary relocation expenses and other related costs may also be recoverable when legally supported and connected to the attack.

Under Ohio Revised Code § 2315.18, covered tort claims generally have no statutory cap on proven economic loss, while many noneconomic losses are subject to limits.

Exceptions to those limits exist for certain qualifying permanent and substantial injuries; they do not apply to every serious assault or psychological injury automatically.

Recovery depends on proof of liability, the person’s injuries, available insurance, and other collectible sources; a claim intended to hold property owners accountable does not guarantee compensation.

Under Ohio Revised Code § 2315.33, modified comparative negligence may reduce an award in a covered negligence claim when the injured person shares fault, and generally bars recovery if that fault exceeds 50%.

This does not mean crime victims share fault merely because they were present when an assault occurred.

What if the Attack Resulted in a Death?

A fatal attack may raise questions about an Ohio wrongful death action and, separately, a survival claim involving losses the person experienced before death.

Ohio applies a special restriction to some violent-crime wrongful death claims against property owners and lessees.

Under Ohio Revised Code § 2125.01, when death results from an unprovoked violent act by a person other than the owner, lessee, or someone under their control, a wrongful death action against the owner or lessee generally requires proof of gross negligence by a covered property defendant.

That is a higher threshold than ordinary negligence, and it should not be assumed that every fatal assault supports a wrongful death claim against a landlord or business.

Where a wrongful death action is available, the estate’s personal representative generally brings it for eligible beneficiaries, and § 2125.02 ordinarily provides a two-year period from death.

Ohio Revised Code § 2305.10 generally provides a two-year deadline for ordinary bodily injury negligence actions, often measured from the date of injury.

A direct assault or battery claim against the attacker generally follows a separate one-year limitations period under § 2305.111, with statutory accrual rules involving the attacker’s identity.

Claims arising from childhood sexual abuse, injuries involving minors, government defendants, and wrongful death may have different requirements.

These distinctions should be reviewed for the specific claim rather than assuming that every legal action arising from an attack has the same deadline.

Even when time remains to file a lawsuit, video, access logs, property records, and witness recollections may be lost much earlier.

A violent attack can leave serious injuries and uncertainty about whether a business, landlord, or other property operator could have reduced the risk.

Our law firm represents clients who suffered injuries in qualifying attacks involving business premises, apartment buildings, and other commercial or residential property throughout Elyria and Northeast Ohio.

Frank Piscitelli brings more than 30 years of Ohio personal injury experience, personally directs the serious cases he accepts, and prepares disputed matters for negotiation or trial.

Our Elyria office is located at 424 Middle Avenue, Suite 1, Elyria, Ohio 44035.

Qualifying matters are handled on a contingency fee basis, with attorney fees dependent on a financial recovery and responsibility for case expenses explained in the written agreement.

Request a free case evaluation through our contact page or use the chat feature on this page.