Burlington County Negligent Security & Assault Lawyer
A parking garage in Cherry Hill. A convenience store in Willingboro. An apartment complex in Mount Laurel. These are not abstract locations. They are places where people in Burlington County go about ordinary life and, because a property owner cut corners on security, end up seriously hurt. When someone is assaulted, robbed, or attacked on another person’s property and that property owner failed to provide reasonable protection, the law holds them accountable. Burlington County negligent security and assault lawyer Joseph Monaco has spent over 30 years pursuing compensation for injury victims throughout South Jersey and understands precisely what it takes to build and win these cases.
When a Property Owner’s Failure Creates the Conditions for an Attack
Negligent security is a category of premises liability law. The theory is straightforward: property owners, whether they operate apartment buildings, hotels, shopping centers, parking facilities, bars, nightclubs, or retail stores, have a legal obligation to protect people on their premises from foreseeable harm. That includes criminal harm when prior incidents at or near the property put the owner on notice that violence is a real risk.
The word “foreseeable” does a lot of work in these cases. A property owner cannot be held liable simply because a crime happened on their property. The question is whether the crime was foreseeable given what the owner knew or should have known, and whether the owner took reasonable steps to prevent it. A landlord who received repeated complaints about break-ins and never upgraded the exterior lighting or fixed the broken entry locks is in a very different legal position than one who had no warning whatsoever.
Common security failures that generate these claims include broken or absent locks on entry points, non-functioning security cameras, inadequate lighting in stairwells or parking areas, failure to hire or properly supervise security personnel, and ignoring documented prior incidents of crime on the property. When any of these gaps create the opening for an assault, robbery, or sexual attack, the victim’s claim is not just against the attacker. It is against the property owner who allowed that opening to exist.
The Types of Injuries These Attacks Produce and Why Damages Are Often Significant
Assaults that occur on negligently secured premises tend to produce serious physical injuries. Stabbings. Gunshot wounds. Severe blunt force trauma. Sexual assaults. These are not minor incidents, and the physical recovery, when it is possible at all, can stretch over months or years.
The psychological harm is often just as serious and just as compensable. Post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and lasting changes in how a person moves through daily life are real injuries. They affect employment, relationships, and every dimension of a person’s functioning. New Jersey law allows injury victims to seek compensation for the full scope of harm, including medical expenses, lost income, diminished earning capacity, and pain and suffering. When the severity of injuries is significant, the damages in negligent security cases can be substantial.
What makes negligent security cases particularly important to handle carefully is the number of responsible parties that may be involved. The property owner, the management company, the security contractor, the individual security officers, and in some cases the attacker himself may all carry some share of legal responsibility. Identifying every potentially liable party and building the evidence to hold them accountable requires experience with how these cases actually work at the trial level.
How New Jersey Law Frames Liability and What Burlington County Victims Need to Know
New Jersey follows a comparative negligence standard. A victim can recover compensation as long as they are found to be 50 percent or less at fault for the incident. The award is then reduced by whatever percentage of fault is attributed to the victim. In negligent security cases, defendants often try to shift blame to the victim. They argue the victim should not have been in that location, should have left sooner, or contributed to the incident in some way. That strategy requires a firm response backed by solid evidence.
New Jersey also imposes a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury claims. That deadline begins from the date of the assault or injury. Waiting too long means losing the right to pursue compensation entirely, regardless of how serious the injuries are. This deadline applies to claims against private property owners. Claims involving government-owned property, a transit facility, or a municipal parking structure may involve shorter notice requirements and different procedural rules.
Burlington County’s Superior Court handles civil claims arising from these incidents. The county encompasses a wide range of property types and environments, from dense commercial corridors in Burlington Township and Mount Holly to residential complexes spread throughout Evesham, Marlton, and Moorestown. The nature of the property and the demographics of the surrounding area all inform what security precautions a reasonable owner should have had in place.
Building a Negligent Security Case: Evidence That Makes the Difference
These cases live and die on documentation. The evidence gathering process needs to begin as soon as possible after the assault because physical evidence disappears, surveillance footage gets overwritten, and witnesses become harder to locate as time passes.
Prior crime history at the property is often central to proving foreseeability. Police reports, incident logs kept by the property or its security company, prior complaints from tenants or visitors, and local crime data for the area are all potential sources. An experienced negligent security attorney will pursue this documentation through discovery and, when necessary, through public records requests.
Physical conditions at the scene matter too. The state of lighting, the functionality of locks and entry points, the presence or absence of security cameras and whether they were actually recording, all of this needs to be documented before the property owner makes improvements that erase the evidence of past neglect. Photographs, video, and in some cases expert inspection of the property are part of what builds a case that can withstand scrutiny at trial or produce a meaningful settlement.
Security industry standards also play a role. Expert witnesses who can testify about what security measures a reasonably operated property of that type should have maintained are valuable in contested cases. Joseph Monaco has the resources and the trial experience to develop and present that kind of technical evidence effectively.
What Victims of Burlington County Assaults Are Actually Asking
Can I sue the property owner if I was assaulted on their premises?
Yes, potentially. The claim depends on whether the property owner failed to provide reasonable security and whether that failure contributed to the assault. Not every attack on private property creates a viable claim, but when prior criminal activity at or near the location put the owner on notice and they did not take reasonable steps to address it, liability is a real possibility. An attorney can evaluate whether the facts of your situation support a claim.
What if the attacker was never identified or caught?
A negligent security claim does not require identifying the attacker. The claim is against the property owner for creating or allowing the conditions that made the attack possible. Even if law enforcement never located the person responsible, the civil case against the property owner can proceed independently.
How long does this type of case take to resolve?
There is no uniform answer. Some cases settle before trial after evidence is exchanged and the property owner’s insurer assesses the exposure. Others require litigation and may take two or three years or more to reach resolution, particularly when liability is disputed or the injuries are severe and damages are difficult to quantify quickly. The right outcome matters more than a fast one.
What if I was partially at fault for being somewhere I should not have been?
New Jersey’s comparative negligence rule means partial fault does not automatically bar recovery. If you are found to bear some share of responsibility for the circumstances, your compensation is reduced proportionally. But if you are found to be 50 percent or less responsible, you can still recover for the remaining damages. Defense attorneys and insurers often overstate victim fault as a tactic. It should not be accepted without a fight.
Does it matter what kind of property the assault occurred on?
Yes. The security obligations placed on a bar or nightclub differ from those placed on an apartment complex, a hotel, or a shopping center. The type of property, the nature of the business, the hours of operation, the known clientele, and the documented history of incidents all shape what “reasonable security” means in a given context. The legal analysis is fact-specific.
What compensation can I actually recover?
New Jersey law allows victims to pursue medical expenses, both past and future, lost income, lost earning capacity if injuries are permanent or disabling, and damages for pain, suffering, and emotional harm. In particularly egregious cases where the property owner’s conduct was especially reckless, punitive damages may also be available, though these are not awarded routinely.
Should I speak with the property owner’s insurance company before hiring an attorney?
No. Insurance representatives for the property owner work to minimize or eliminate the owner’s liability. Speaking with them before you understand your rights, or before an attorney has assessed your claim, can result in statements being used against you or an early settlement offer that fails to account for the full scope of your injuries. Get legal advice first.
Speak With a Burlington County Premises Liability Attorney About Your Assault Claim
Joseph Monaco has handled premises liability and personal injury cases throughout Burlington County and South Jersey for over 30 years. He personally handles each case, which means clients work directly with him, not with a paralegal or a junior associate. If you were assaulted on another person’s property and believe inadequate security played a role, reach out to Monaco Law PC to discuss what happened and what your options are. There is no cost to speak with a Burlington County negligent security attorney and get an honest assessment of your case.
