Miami Apartment Complex Crime Victim Lawyer

Apartment complexes are series of buildings and living accommodations where thousands of people share living space. Often, they accommodate few thousand people at once. Apartment complexes have been made to provide homes to large number of people for affordable price. That’s why historically many of them have been located on outskirts of cities, where housing prices are lower.

However, apartment complexes are not used just by less wealthy people nowadays. More and more often, construction companies cater to more wealthy individuals. They build luxurious apartment complexes with many amenities, making modern condos an object of prestige among its buyers and tenants.

No matter what kind of apartment complex, tenants of apartment complexes are vulnerable to criminal assaults. They could be a target of criminal offenders or accidentally caught at the scene. Offenders are often aggressive, bringing the risk of personal injuries and wrongful deaths. If you’ve been an unfortunate victim of a criminal attack and you’ve ended up injured, call our Miami apartment complex crime victim lawyers at Wolfson & Leon at (305) 285-1115. You may be entitled to financial damages for the injuries and losses suffered because of a criminal attack at apartment complex.

Apartment complex residents can suffer from any violent crimes. Usually, criminals break into the property to steal money or other objects of value. Therefore, the most common crimes are burglaries and robberies. Whether you are at home or not, assailants would break into your apartment if they believe you possess something they want. Burglary is a crime that involves an offender who enters a property with intent to commit a crime, while a robbery involves the use of force and fear to take your belongings away from you.

Both crimes often involve the use of weapons. Criminals rarely attack unarmed because committing a crime involves a great risk for them. They want to make sure that the attack will be successful and that’s where weapons come handy. Unfortunately, use of weapons often leads to more serious crimes including but limited to murder.

Another horrendous crime concerns rape victims in apartment complexes. An assailant might enter an apartment complex with the intent to commit a sexual assault. In addition, tenants can be at risk for stalking, molestation and harassment.

Whatever happened to you or your loved ones, you have the right to be compensated for the harms, losses and pain you’ve been through because of being a crime victim. The question is who, if anyone, might be responsible and who can pay. That is where the Miami apartment crime victim attorneys at Wolfson & Leon can help.

There are three avenues for recovering damages as a crime victim in Florida:

• The Florida Bureau for Victim Compensation. This body exists to help crime victims recover from crime consequences as soon as possible. There are certain requirements that your case must meet, and if it does, you’ll qualify for compensation for some of the expenses and lost earnings due to the crime.
• Criminal offender. But in most cases, the criminal does not have any collectable assets. So any judgement for damages against a criminal is likely to be symbolic only.
• Apartment complex owner. They can be liable under certain circumstances. If you prove that they are legally responsible for your injuries, you can recover from them without waiting for the offender to be convicted.

In Florida, apartment complex owners can be liable for personal injuries that occurred on their premises under Florida premises liability laws. Accordingly, apartment complex owners owe tenants a duty of care, which means they need to take all the reasonable steps for providing safe environment for living. If they breach this duty of care due to negligence, and that results in personal injuries and wrongful deaths for crime victims, they can be held legally responsible for the consequences.

Apartment complex owners can undertake many measures to prevent crimes in properties under their control. Here is a short list of some things they should do:

• Anticipate crimes. Failure to anticipate crimes in neighborhoods with high crimes rate is a huge mistake and negligent.
• Install security systems. They will discourage potential criminal offenders. Installing alarms and security cameras deflect assailants from well-secured properties and make them less likely to break in.
• Secure locks. Only tenants and their invitees should have unimpeded access to buildings. Intruders avenue inside must be made as difficult as possible.
• Provide adequate lighting. Dark areas give advantage to assailants. Enlightening premises properly is essential in preventing criminal attacks in apartment complexes.
• Screen tenants. Sometimes threat comes from the inside. Apartment complex owner should screen tenants properly before letting them into the community.
• Neighborhood watch. The landlord could encourage forming a neighborhood watch unit to mitigate the risk of criminal attacks on premises.

This is not an exhaustive list of measure an apartment complex owner could take to prevent crimes, but when these are done properly, risks can be minimized. However, if the owner has been negligent and it led to criminal attack where you have been injured, then the apartment complex owner may be liable for your damages, harms and losses.

If you want to recover damages from an apartment complex owner as a crime victim, you’ll have to prove that:

• A foreseeable crime occurred on premises under control of the apartment complex owner
• You have been a victim of the crime and suffered personal injury due to it
• The apartment complex owner owed you duty of care
• The apartment complex owner failed to meet the standard of care
• You have been injured due to the breach of the duty of care
• Your injury could have been prevented if there was no breach of the duty of care

It can be very challenging for a person without legal background to investigate all the necessary circumstances that prove whether an apartment owner was liable or not, so it makes sense to consult with a Florida apartment complex crime victim attorney to help you. If you manage to win the case, you can expect the apartment complex owner to pay for:

• Your medical bills, whether you had to stay in hospital or not.
• Future medical expenses to be incurred as a result of your injury
• Bills for medications and rehabilitation
• Bills for visit of mental health counselor
• Compensation for physical and emotional pain and suffering
• Lost wages and future losses of the ability to earn money

At Wolfson & Leon, our Miami crime victim compensation attorneys are standing by to help. Our Miami injury lawyers will provide you with a free consultation and they will never charge a fee unless they make a financial recovery for you. Call us now at (305) 285-1115 and let us help you get the justice and compensation that you deserve.

Our Miami apartment crime victim rights lawyers are available to represent individuals injured in any type of accident or criminal incident anywhere in Florida including the following communities in Miami-Dade County: Hialeah, Miami Gardens, Homestead, Florida City, Allapattah, Tamiami, Little Havana, Little Haiti, Liberty City, North Miami, South Miami, South Beach, North Miami Beach, Overtown, Aventura, Surfside, Miami Lakes, Kendall, Kendale Lakes, Doral, Key Biscayne, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove.