Haggard Crime Victim Attorneys Broadens Resources for Negligent Security Victims Nationwide

A Firm Built on Holding Property Owners Accountable

Most crime victims never realize they may have a civil lawsuit on their hands — not against their attacker, but against the property owner who failed to protect them. That's the core mission driving The Haggard Law Firm, and the Florida-based firm has now expanded its negligent security resources to reach even more victims across the country. When a property owner — an apartment complex, a parking garage, a bar, a hotel, a store — fails to provide reasonable security, and that failure lets a violent crime happen, the law can hold them financially responsible. It's called negligent security.

Thousands of victims have a valid civil claim and never know it, because no one told them they could sue the people who left them unprotected. That gap in awareness is exactly what Haggard Crime Victim Attorneys aims to close. Since 1972, The Haggard Law Firm has represented the rights of people across the country who have been permanently injured or killed through the fault of others.

A Track Record That Speaks for Itself

The firm's expansion of negligent security resources comes on the back of a remarkable legal track record. In Barrak v. Report Investment Corporation, their client was shot outside a Miami nightclub after inadequate security measures failed to protect patrons. The shooting left him a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic. The jury awarded $102.7 million — the largest negligent security verdict ever obtained in U.S. history.

Managing Partner Michael Haggard captured national headlines as the only plaintiffs' personal injury attorney to secure three separate $100 million verdicts on behalf of individual clients. He secured two consecutive $100 million verdicts on behalf of children involved in pool accidents. Several years later, a third $100 million verdict was awarded by a jury in a negligent security case, deemed the largest of its kind for that genre of case law. More recently, the firm obtained a $31 million settlement in a negligent security case arising from a shooting at an apartment complex in DeKalb County, Georgia. Since 2000, The Haggard Law Firm has secured nearly $1 billion in verdicts and settlements in premises liability and negligent security cases.

What Negligent Security Victims Need to Know

Negligent security cases often arise when property owners ignore known dangers, fail to provide adequate lighting, access control, security patrols, or other basic safety measures that could prevent violent crime. The legal theory is straightforward: if a crime on someone else's property was foreseeable and preventable, the owner may bear financial responsibility for the harm done. Victims of assaults due to negligent security can file civil lawsuits against property owners for failing to prevent foreseeable crimes through reasonable measures. Unlike criminal cases against attackers, these claims focus on the owner's breach of duty.

Compensation covers medical costs, therapy for trauma, and lost income. Key evidence for negligent security lawsuits includes police reports of prior crimes, maintenance logs showing ignored repairs, witness statements, photos of poor conditions like dim lights or broken gates, and expert opinions on reasonable security. The law firm handles negligent security cases nationally with the assistance of local counsel.

Growing the Mission Beyond the Courtroom

The firm recently announced a continuing legal education program — "Beyond the Premises" — that will explore issues including negligent security, drowning incidents, medical malpractice, short-term rental liability, sexual assault, and cruise liability. Speakers will draw on their experience handling complex cases to discuss the legal, practical, and strategic considerations that can arise throughout litigation. The firm has also launched a podcast, "Case & Cause Hosted by Michael Haggard," exploring trial law, advocacy, and social change.

Haggard has noted that he and his father always wanted to work together, driven by a shared desire to make the world a safer place — using personal injury lawsuits to draw attention to overarching safety issues and to affect safety-related changes at both the state and federal levels. As the firm broadens its educational resources and national reach, the message to crime victims remains the same: a violent crime on someone else's property isn't just a matter for police — it may also be a matter for civil court, and the time to act is now.