When a person is attacked, robbed, or shot on someone else property in Las Vegas, the criminal is not always the only party responsible. If the property owner failed to provide reasonable security and the attack was foreseeable, that owner can be held liable too. This area of law is called negligent security, and it matters enormously in a city built on casinos, resorts, apartment complexes, and parking garages that draw millions of visitors a year.
Negligent security claims let an injured victim, or the family of someone killed, recover from the business that failed to keep them safe. Nevada has a specific statute that governs these cases for hotels and resorts, and a broader body of premises liability law that covers the rest. Here is how those claims work and what it takes to win one.
What Negligent Security Means in Nevada
Negligent security is a branch of premises liability. Every business that invites the public onto its property owes those lawful visitors a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe. That duty is not limited to wet floors and broken stairs. It extends to protecting guests from the foreseeable criminal acts of other people. When a property owner knows that visitors face a real risk of violence and does nothing reasonable to prevent it, the owner can share legal responsibility for the harm. For a fuller overview of the underlying duty, see our guide on what premises liability means in Nevada.
The Innkeeper Liability Standard Under NRS 651.015
Nevada sets a specific rule for hotels, motels, resorts, and lodging houses. Under NRS 651.015, an innkeeper is not automatically liable when a guest is hurt by a third party who is not an employee. The statute requires two things before liability attaches. The wrongful act must have been foreseeable, and the owner must have failed to take reasonable precautions against it.
The statute goes further and tells courts how to measure foreseeability. A wrongful act is not foreseeable unless the owner failed to exercise due care for guest safety, or prior incidents of similar wrongful acts occurred on the premises and the owner had notice or knowledge of them. The court itself decides foreseeability and duty as a matter of law. This framework is the backbone of most Strip and resort cases, including casino assault claims against Las Vegas resorts.
Where Negligent Security Claims Arise in Las Vegas
The same legal principle reaches across the valley, well beyond hotel lobbies. Claims commonly grow out of a few familiar settings.
- Casinos and resorts, where crowds, alcohol, and cash draw predictable trouble.
- Apartment complexes with broken gates, dead cameras, or a history of violence the landlord ignored.
- Parking garages and lots, where poor lighting and no patrols invite robbery and assault.
- Nightclubs and bars, a setting we cover in detail in our guide on whether you can sue a nightclub for negligent security.
- Malls and retail centers that cut security staffing despite known risks.
- Event and festival venues that fail to plan for the crowds they invite.
Proving the Crime Was Foreseeable
Foreseeability is where most negligent security cases are won or lost. The goal is to show the owner knew, or should have known, that this kind of harm could happen. Strong evidence includes prior similar crimes on or near the property, the volume of police calls to the address, area crime statistics, and complaints from guests or tenants that the owner brushed aside. When a property has a documented history of assaults and the owner still skipped basic security, foreseeability becomes very hard to deny.
What Reasonable Security Looks Like
The second half of the test asks what the owner did about the risk. Reasonable precautions depend on the property and the danger, and a court weighs what a careful operator would have done. Common measures include trained and adequately staffed security guards, working surveillance cameras, bright and maintained lighting, controlled access through gates and functioning locks, and a real plan to respond to emergencies. A negligent security case often turns on a simple contrast between the danger the owner knew about and the bare minimum it actually provided.
Injuries and Damages in Negligent Security Cases
These cases tend to involve severe harm, because they grow out of violent crime. Victims suffer assaults, stabbings, gunshot wounds, robbery injuries, and sexual assault, and some attacks end in death. A successful claim can recover medical bills, the cost of future care, lost wages and reduced earning capacity, and compensation for pain, trauma, and disfigurement. When a victim dies, surviving family members may bring a wrongful death claim for their own losses on top of the estate claim.
How Comparative Fault Affects a Claim
Property owners and their insurers often try to shift blame onto the victim, arguing the person provoked the attack or ignored an obvious risk. Nevada follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which reduces a recovery by the victim share of fault and bars recovery only if the victim is more than half responsible. A victim who was simply present and attacked carries little or no fault, and the focus stays where it belongs, on the security the property failed to provide.
What to Do After an Attack on Someone Else Property
The steps taken in the first days shape the strength of a claim.
- Get to safety and seek medical care immediately, and keep every record of treatment.
- Report the crime to the police and request a copy of the report.
- Document the scene with photos of lighting, broken gates, missing cameras, and the location.
- Get names and numbers of any witnesses before they scatter.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the property owner insurer before speaking with a lawyer.
- Act fast, because surveillance footage is often overwritten within days and is critical evidence.
Who Can Be Held Liable Beyond the Property Owner
A negligent security claim often reaches more than one defendant. The property owner is the obvious target, yet responsibility can extend to the company that manages the building day to day, a separate security contractor hired to patrol it, or a parent corporation that set staffing budgets from afar. In a large Las Vegas resort or apartment portfolio, these roles are split among different entities, and each one that had a hand in the failed security can share the liability. Identifying every responsible party matters, because it widens the insurance coverage available to pay for a serious injury and keeps one defendant from pointing the finger at an empty chair.
How Long You Have to File a Negligent Security Claim in Nevada
Time limits are strict, and missing one can end a case before it starts. Nevada generally gives an injured person two years to file a personal injury lawsuit, measured from the date of the attack. A wrongful death claim carries its own two year window that runs from the date of death. Those deadlines feel distant in the painful weeks after an attack, but the practical clock is much shorter. Surveillance footage, guard logs, and incident reports disappear quickly, and witnesses become hard to find. The sooner an attorney can send preservation letters and gather evidence, the stronger the claim will be when it counts.
Building a Negligent Security Case Early
The outcome of these cases is often decided by what gets preserved in the first weeks. A property that knows it failed has every incentive to let the footage loop over itself and to log the event as a random, unforeseeable crime. A prompt investigation flips that script. Counsel can demand the surveillance video before it is erased, pull the police call history for the address, gather prior incident reports, and document the broken locks or dark corners that made the attack possible. That early record is what turns a foreseeable failure into a provable one, and it is the single biggest factor a victim controls.
Why These Claims Hold Property Owners Accountable
Negligent security law exists because the businesses that profit from inviting crowds onto their property are the ones best positioned to keep those crowds safe. A resort earns from packed casino floors, a landlord earns from full buildings, and a club earns from a busy door. Nevada law asks them to put a reasonable share of that revenue back into security when the risk is known. Holding an owner accountable does more than compensate one victim. It pressures every comparable property in the valley to fix the lighting, staff the guards, and repair the gate before the next person is hurt.
Frequently Asked Questions About Negligent Security in Nevada
Can I sue a property owner for a crime someone else committed?
Yes, if the attack was foreseeable and the owner failed to provide reasonable security, the owner can be liable alongside the attacker.
What does NRS 651.015 require for hotel cases?
It requires that the wrongful act was foreseeable and that the owner failed to take reasonable precautions against it.
How do you prove a crime was foreseeable?
Usually through prior similar incidents on the property, police call history, area crime data, and ignored complaints.
What if I was partly at fault?
Nevada reduces recovery by your share of fault and bars it only if you were more than 50 percent responsible.
If you or someone you love was hurt by violence on a Las Vegas property that failed to keep visitors safe, the Bourassa Law Group can help you hold the owner accountable. Our attorneys handle casino, resort, apartment, and parking structure negligent security claims across Nevada.
1-800-870-8910