Can I Sue the Building Owner if I Was Attacked on the Property?

 Posted on September 30, 2026 in Premises Liability

Under Illinois premises liability law, you may be able to sue a building owner after you’re injured in an attack. However, the fact that the attack happened on someone else’s property is not reason enough to bring a lawsuit. Cases like these succeed when something about the owner's own conduct created or ignored a danger. If you were attacked and injured on someone else’s property in 2026, our Chicago premises liability lawyers can explain your legal options.

Does a Property Owner Have to Protect You From Crime in Illinois?

In general, Illinois property owners have no duty to protect people from the criminal acts of third parties. What owners do owe, under 740 ILCS 130/2, is reasonable care under the circumstances toward people who come onto the property. That duty covers both the condition of the premises and any acts done or not done to them.

A duty to guard against crime can apply in a few situations. One is a special relationship, which Illinois recognizes between a business and its customers, an innkeeper and guests, a common carrier and passengers, and anyone who has taken custody of another person. Another is when the owner chooses to provide security they aren’t required to provide by law. A building that hires a lobby doorman, installs a keycard entry system, or posts a guard in its parking garage has taken on that job voluntarily. It then has to handle it with reasonable care. However, this doesn’t mean that there is always a duty to protect visitors from criminal acts (see Aidroos v. Vance Uniformed Protection Services, Inc., (2008)).

When one of these special relationships exists, the next question is whether the attack was foreseeable. Courts also consider how likely the harm was, how difficult it would have been to guard against it, and the consequences of requiring the owner to take those precautions.

When Is an Attack on a Building’s Premises Considered Foreseeable in Illinois?

Evidence that an attack was foreseeable – and may therefore trigger liability on the part of the property owner or manager – includes:

• Prior similar crimes at the same building, garage, or lot

• Police call records and incident reports tied to the address

• Written complaints from tenants or customers about safety problems

• Crime levels in the immediate area surrounding the property

• Broken locks, gates, or exterior doors that were reported and never fixed

• Cameras installed and visible but not recording

• A security guard position that was cut, reduced, or left unstaffed

• Exterior or stairwell lighting that had been out for weeks

What’s really relevant here is whether the owner knew or should have known there was a risk, and then failed to take reasonable steps in response. A single unpredictable incident at a building with no history of such crimes is very different from an assault in a stairwell where three other assaults had already occurred.

Who Besides a Building Owner Can Be Held Responsible for Damages After an Attack?

If an attack happens and someone is injured, the building owner may not be the only party that is legally liable. A property management company running day-to-day operations may be liable for how it handles complaints and repairs. A separate security contractor can be responsible for its own failures, including guards who were untrained or absent.

For example, parking garages are frequently operated by a different company than the building they serve. If a parking garage hires a guard who is regularly sleeping on the job at 2 am, and somebody is attacked in the garage during that time, the parking garage company may be liable. Sometimes a franchisor that controls security standards can be brought in as well.

The attacker is also legally responsible, though a judgment against an individual is often very difficult to collect. More often, the person who commits the attack suffers criminal penalties but no civil penalties. 

Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Chicago, IL Premises Liability Attorneys

At Winters Salzetta O'Brien & Richardson, LLC, our award-winning attorneys have been fighting for accident victims since 1997. We bring decades of experience to every case we handle. Negligent security cases depend on records that belong to the property owner, including incident logs, maintenance requests, and footage that will not exist in a month, so the value of moving early on one of these claims can’t be overstated.

Contact Winters Salzetta O'Brien & Richardson, LLC at 312-236-6324 to talk to our Chicago premises liability lawyers today.