After an attack on someone else’s property

Negligent Security Claims in Fort Lauderdale: What to Preserve

By Miller & Jacobs Accident Attorneys

After an attack at a Fort Lauderdale hotel, apartment, bar, or parking lot, a negligent security claim may be possible. You must show that someone with a duty to protect you failed to use reasonable care and that failure helped cause your injuries. Video, reports, past complaints, and security records can help explain what happened.

Safety and treatment come first. Keep what you already have. You do not have to return to the scene or gather every record before asking for help.

The first preservation request

Ask for the video before it is overwritten

Camera footage may be kept for a short time. A lawyer can send a prompt, specific request to keep it. That request may go to the owner, manager, security company, and nearby businesses with useful cameras.

Name the place and time

Give the address, date, approximate time, and exact entrance, floor, garage level, or walkway. Identify your route and a useful period before and after the attack, not just the moment of contact.

Identify the recordings to keep

Ask to keep the useful camera views, original video files, timestamps, and export details. Camera outages, repair records, and the system’s overwrite policy may also matter.

Keep the request itself

Save a copy and proof of delivery. A request to keep evidence does not guarantee you will get a copy. Private records may require a subpoena or other legal process.

Do not assume every property keeps footage for 30 days. That period appears in a specific Florida apartment-property rule discussed below. A request to keep evidence also does not pause the lawsuit deadline.

Build the record without doing it all yourself

Separate the reports, warning history, and security records

Each source answers a different question. Save the records you have, and tell your lawyer which records are still held by someone else.

Police and property reports

Keep the police agency name and case number. Ask the property for its incident number too. Police reports, emergency calls, guard logs, and staff reports are separate records. If Fort Lauderdale Police responded, its Records page explains how to request police records. Access may be limited during an investigation.

Earlier complaints and incidents

Save emails, texts, repair requests, and replies about a broken gate, poor lighting, threats, or earlier attacks. Include dates and who received them. Your lawyer can review past police calls and property reports that may be relevant. A citywide crime rate alone does not show what this property knew.

Security and repair history

Note any locks, gates, lights, or cameras that seemed not to work. Useful records may include inspections, work orders, outages, entry logs, guard schedules, patrol logs, security contracts, and training. Keep before-and-after dates separate. A later repair is not automatically proof of earlier negligence.

Your originals and injury records

Back up photographs, messages, receipts, bookings, and witness contact details. Keep original files without editing them. Save treatment records, missed-work records, and a dated note of the help you need. Do not post private details or confront anyone to collect evidence.

What those records need to show

A security problem must connect to your injuries

A crime on the property does not, by itself, prove negligent security. The claim needs a duty of care, a failure to meet it, a legal link to the injury, and proof of losses.

Who controlled the risk?

The owner may not be the only party with control. Leases, management agreements, and security contracts can help show who controlled the area or could fix the problem. Your reason for being there also matters to the duty owed.

What warning existed beforehand?

Past events that involved a similar risk and notice to staff may help show what could have been foreseen. The type of event, place, date, and what staff knew matter. The Fourth District’s 2026 Varone decision cautions against using general crime concerns to prove a duty to anticipate a sudden attack.

How did the lapse contribute?

The proof must link the claimed failure to the harm. A broken camera alone does not prove that a working camera would have prevented the attack. Entry points, lights, warnings, and staff response may need expert review. The lapse need not be the only cause.

You do not need to know the attacker’s identity to ask about your options. Keep the facts you do know, including any record of a threat or staff response.

Two Florida rules that affect the evidence

Fault allocation and the apartment-property presumption

The attacker’s conduct is part of the case

In covered cases brought by someone lawfully on the property, section 768.0701 requires the judge or jury to consider everyone’s contributing fault. That includes the attacker. It does not automatically excuse the property or assign a set share of fault. Any claim against you should be tested against evidence, not assumptions about how someone should react during an attack.

Some multifamily owners can claim a presumption

Section 768.0706 applies to a residential building or group of buildings with at least five dwelling units total on one parcel. An owner or principal operator can gain a presumption against liability for third-party crimes on the premises. It must prove that it substantially put all the statutory conditions into practice.

These include entry-and-exit cameras with footage that can be retrieved for at least 30 days, specified lights, locks and other access measures. They also include a qualifying crime-prevention assessment no more than three years old and staff training. Ask to keep the assessment, training, video-storage, upkeep, and other records of compliance.

The owner bears the proof burden. The presumption can be rebutted; it is not automatic immunity. Failing to qualify does not itself prove negligence. The statute creates no separate private claim. Its protection concerns third parties who are not the owner’s or operator’s employees or agents.

Keep the court deadline separate

Reporting the crime does not stop the civil clock

Florida generally allows two years for ordinary negligence claims that accrued after March 24, 2023. An attack causing immediate injury usually starts that clock when the attack and injury occur. Earlier claims generally retain the former four-year period. Section 95.11 and the 2023 law’s timing provisions explain the change.

Have the exact deadline checked early. Public entities have separate notice steps. A fatal attack calls for a wrongful death analysis, and limited grounds to pause the clock need review. Do not assume a police investigation, video request, or insurance discussion gives you more time.

A manageable next step

Speak With Our Negligent Security Lawyers

Mark J. Miller, Partner

Rick S. Jacobs, Partner

Start with the location, date, injuries, case number if available, and any request to sign a statement or release. Miller & Jacobs can discuss the missing records and whether the facts support a civil claim. The Fort Lauderdale negligent security representation page explains the firm’s local help.

Call 954-465-8733 Schedule a Free Consultation

You can also contact Miller & Jacobs to request a free consultation.

Questions about missing evidence

What if you cannot get the records?

The video is already gone. Is the claim over?

Not automatically. Witness accounts, reports, photos, entry logs, and past complaints may help. A lawyer can look at why footage is missing and whether evidence-preservation rules apply. Missing video does not guarantee a claim or a sanction.

I never complained before the attack. Does that defeat my claim?

Not by itself. Other complaints, prior incidents, inspections, or information available to management may matter. You do not have to prove that you personally warned the owner before you were hurt.

Can I get help while the criminal case is still open?

Yes, you can ask about a civil claim now. The criminal investigation and civil case have different purposes and deadlines. Some police material may be withheld while the investigation continues; that is a reason to identify other records, not wait without checking the civil deadline.