Can You Sue an Apartment Complex for Negligent Security in Denver?
A common belief among Denver tenants is that an apartment complex is out of reach whenever the person who caused the harm was a criminal. Colorado law does not work that way. The state has one statute that governs when a person injured on someone else’s property can recover from the party responsible for that property, and an attack in a stairwell or a parking garage is not carved out of it. Negligent security is the everyday name for that kind of case: an injury caused by another person’s crime, brought against the party responsible for the premises where the crime happened.
Whether the law allows this kind of claim at all is a different question from whether a particular claim can be brought. The second question turns on the facts of the property, what the responsible party knew, and how the court applies the statute to each defendant it is asked about. Understanding your legal options starts with looking at who is responsible for the property and what the law requires of them when a crime occurs. Zaner Law Personal Injury Lawyers works on injury claims from a single office in Denver, and these are the points tenants and their guests ask about most.
Does Colorado law allow a claim against an apartment complex after a crime?
Yes, there is a route, but it must go through a specific Colorado statute, which serves as the exclusive legal path for these claims. A claim of this kind runs through C.R.S. § 13-21-115, the section governing premises liability.
Colorado has a statute for this. Where someone is injured on another person’s real property by reason of the condition of the property, or activities conducted or circumstances existing on it, the landowner’s liability is governed by the Colorado Premises Liability Act. The landowner is liable only as provided in subsection (4) of that statute. §§ 13-21-111, 13-21-111.5 and 13-21-111.7 also apply to such an action.
Two things follow from that for a tenant or a guest. The claim is aimed at the party responsible for the property, and not only at the person who committed the crime. And the question worth asking is never whether such claims exist in Colorado, but whether the facts meet what the Act requires of the defendant you have in mind. Your reason for being on the property determines what the landlord owes you, so the law groups visitors into specific categories to measure those legal duties.
Is the complex, the property manager, or both the landowner?
It can be more than one of them, because the Act defines the term by responsibility rather than by the name on the deed.
“Landowner” is defined broadly: it reaches an authorized agent, a person in possession of the property, and a person legally responsible for the condition of the property or for the activities or circumstances on it. More than one defendant can be a landowner. Where there are several, the court decides how the Act applies to each of them separately. The court, not the jury, decides which category a visitor falls into — invitee, licensee, or trespasser.
That definition is why two different companies often sit on the same side of a case.
- The owner of the complex. This is the entity most tenants name first, and it is the party with the clearest interest in the real property itself.
- The management company. A company in possession of the property, or legally responsible for its condition or for the circumstances on it, comes within the same statutory words. Whether it does so in any given case is a question for the court, applied to that company alone. The two are not alternatives, and the position of one does not settle the position of the other.
Working out which companies fall inside the definition is part of what our Denver negligent security practice involves.
What did Colorado lawmakers say about crimes committed by other people?
They added a declaration to the Act dealing with third-party criminal conduct.
The General Assembly declared that the Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood v. Wagner decisions do not accurately reflect its intent on landowner liability. Courts must not rely on them to the extent those majority opinions determined two things. First, that the foreseeability of third-party crime depends on whether the landowner’s goods or services are controversial. Second, that a landowner could be held liable as a substantial factor in causing harm without checking if the criminal act was the predominant cause of that harm. The declaration expressly does not reject or disturb any other judicial decision.
Note the limits the legislature wrote into that text. It operates only “to the extent” of the two determinations it names, and it says in terms that no other judicial decision is rejected or disturbed. If a property owner’s insurer describes this declaration as something broader, the statutory language is the place to check.
FAQs about suing a Denver apartment complex
Who decides whether I was an invitee, a licensee, or a trespasser?
The court does, not the jury. The Colorado Premises Liability Act sets out the three categories and gives that classification decision to the court. This category shapes what a claimant has to show. It is not a label to assume about your own situation before speaking to an attorney about the facts.
Can a claim be brought if the person who attacked me was never caught?
A negligent security claim is brought against the party responsible for the property. It is not built on identifying or suing the attacker. The claim still has to satisfy the Colorado Premises Liability Act. Where several landowners are defendants, the court determines how that Act applies to each of them.
Does the Act cover a guest, or only the tenant who signed the lease?
The statute covers a person who alleges injury occurring while on the real property of another. It sorts visitors into invitee, licensee and trespasser. A social guest falls inside the licensee definition. Which category a particular visitor falls into is decided by the court on the facts.
Does it matter that the attack happened in a parking garage or a stairwell?
The Act covers injury on the real property of another by reason of the condition of that property, or activities conducted or circumstances existing on it. Those words are not confined to the inside of a rented unit. How the Act applies to a given area and a given defendant is for the court.
Talk to Zaner Law Personal Injury Lawyers about what happened
An attack at a Denver apartment complex is measured against the Colorado Premises Liability Act, defendant by defendant. Finding out which companies count as a landowner, what they knew, and how the statute applies to your situation is the first step in assessing a negligent security claim. You do not have to assume you are out of options just because a third party committed the crime, but you do need to know exactly how Colorado law treats the property where it happened. The legal categories matter, and the court will decide them based on the specific details of the event.
Zaner Law Personal Injury Lawyers offers a free confidential consultation to go through the facts of your situation. Our team is ready to listen, explain the statute, and help you understand your legal position under the Act. You can reach us through our contact us page or by calling (720) 613-9706.
