We Are Here Because You Are Still Living With What Happened to You
You were doing your job. You showed up to clean a home in Fort Lauderdale on the morning of August 28, 2024, the way you had shown up dozens, maybe hundreds of times before. You let yourself in. You set down your supplies. And then a man you had never seen before forced his way in, flashed a knife, threw you to the ground, and zip-tied you before he raped you.
We are not going to tell you that what happened to you is something to “get past” or “move forward from.” We are not going to use the language of self-help books. We are going to tell you what the law actually says about what was done to you, and what it obligates the people responsible to do about it.
This page is about the case that has been filed against Airbnb and the property owner, and about the law of negligent security in Florida that makes those defendants answerable for what happened to you. It is also about the evidence, the deadlines, and the people who are about to contact you with friendly-sounding offers to settle the case quickly. We wrote it for you, or for a family member who is reading on your behalf.
If you take one thing from this page, take this: the property had been broken into twice in the weeks before your attack. Someone knew. And no one protected you. That is the heart of your case.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
What We Know About What Happened on August 28, 2024
The complaint filed in this case alleges a sequence that, if proven, establishes a textbook case of negligent security under Florida law. Here is what the facts, as alleged, show:
You were a cleaning professional. You had a legitimate reason to be inside that Airbnb rental on Southeast 19th Street in Fort Lauderdale. The guests had just checked out. You were alone, doing the job you have done many times before, in what should have been a safe and empty home.
An intruder broke in. He showed you a knife. He threw you to the ground. He zip-tied you. He sexually assaulted you. He raped you.
Months later, he has not been caught. You have spoken publicly only as “Jane Doe,” because your name is not the point of this case. The point is that the property had been breached twice before, by different people, in the weeks leading up to your attack, and nothing was done to make it safe for you or for anyone else who had to walk through that door.
The Two Break-Ins Before You: The Spine of Your Case
This is the single most important fact in the entire file, and it deserves its own section.
The lawsuit alleges, and the public record appears to reflect, that before your attack this Fort Lauderdale Airbnb had been the target of at least two separate security incidents in the preceding weeks:
- A theft. A guest reported a laptop stolen from the property.
- A break-in by a man who locked himself inside. Approximately a week before your attack, a man broke through a window and locked himself inside the unit. He was found there by other guests.
These are not minor details. These are the foundation of a negligent security claim under Florida law. In a moment, we will explain what the law requires of a property owner when it has notice of prior criminal activity on its premises. But the plain-English version is this: the property owner and the platform that marketed the property to guests knew, or should have known, that the home was not safe. You walked in, and the worst happened.
Your attorney in this case said it directly: “Jane Doe was doing her job. Airbnb failed to do theirs.” That is the law, in one sentence.
Who You Are Up Against: The Defendant Map
A sexual assault case like this typically has more than one defendant, and the names on the door are rarely the companies that actually have to pay. The defendant map in a case like yours includes three layers, and finding every one of them is the difference between a settlement and a recovery that actually covers what has happened to you.
Airbnb, Inc.
Airbnb is the platform that listed this property, accepted payment from the guests, and held the property out to the public as a verified, safe place to stay. Airbnb is not just a passive listing service. It sets the standards for the homes on its platform, vets the hosts, controls the booking process, sets the security expectations, and collects a fee from every booking. In a negligent security case in Florida, the platform can be held responsible for what happens on premises it markets and profits from, particularly when the platform had notice of prior criminal activity and failed to act.
Airbnb’s public response has been to say that the listing has been suspended and that they are “investigating.” That is the appropriate response to a press inquiry. It is not a defense to a negligence claim, and it does not change the legal duty the company owed before your attack.
The Property Owner / Host
The host who owns the Fort Lauderdale home is the entity that actually held the legal duty to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. Under Florida premises-liability law, a property owner has a duty to protect invitees, and people who work on the property with permission, from foreseeable criminal harm. When the property has been the target of two break-ins in the weeks before an attack, that harm becomes foreseeable. The duty to act rises. If the owner did not act, the owner is on the hook.
The Property Management Company
If a third-party company was hired to manage the listing, the cleaning schedule, the lock changes, and the security protocols, that company is a separate defendant with a separate legal duty. Property-management companies in Florida have been held liable when their own failures to coordinate, communicate, or act on warning signs contributed to an attack.
The Security or Alarm Company
If there was a security system, a smart lock, or a monitored alarm in place at the property, and any of it failed to function, failed to alert, or was not properly maintained, the company that installed or monitored that system may carry its own liability for a defective or negligently maintained security product.
Florida Law: What the State Requires When a Property Has Been Broken Into Before
Florida law on negligent security is built on a single, simple principle: a property owner has a duty to take reasonable steps to protect people on the property from foreseeable criminal harm, and the more evidence the owner has that crime has happened on the property before, the more foreseeable the next crime becomes.
This case sits inside the body of Florida law that governs premises liability, codified in the broader framework of negligence and premises liability in Florida Statutes Chapter 768 (the “Florida Tort Reform and Insurance Act” and related provisions), as further modified by the 2023 tort reform legislation known as House Bill 837 (HB 837), which became effective in March 2023 and made significant changes to how negligent security cases are litigated in this state.
Under Florida law, a negligent security plaintiff must prove four elements:
“A plaintiff in a negligent security case must establish that the property owner owed a duty to the plaintiff, that the property owner breached that duty by failing to provide reasonable security, that the breach was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s injuries, and that the plaintiff suffered actual damages.”
The element that turns a negligent security case from a loser into a winner is foreseeability. Foreseeability is what makes the duty attach in the first place. And foreseeability in this state is proven primarily through one thing: prior similar incidents on or near the property.
Two break-ins in the weeks before your attack. That is the proof of foreseeability. That is what makes the duty real, and that is what makes a jury look at this case and see that the property owner and the platform should have been on notice that something had to be done, and was not.
The 2023 Tort Reform: How HB 837 Changes the Battlefield
Florida House Bill 837, signed into law in December 2022 and effective for incidents occurring on or after March 24, 2023, made the most significant changes to Florida tort law in more than a decade. Several of those changes directly affect cases like yours, and you should know what they are.
Modified comparative negligence. Under the common law that existed before HB 837, Florida followed a pure comparative negligence rule, meaning a plaintiff who was partly at fault could still recover, with the recovery reduced by the percentage of their own fault. HB 837 changed the rule. Under the new statute, a plaintiff who is found to be more than 50 percent at fault is barred from recovering anything. A plaintiff who is 50 percent or less at fault can still recover, but the recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault. Your case is an assault on a cleaning professional who was alone in a property. There is no realistic theory under which you would be found more than 50 percent at fault for what was done to you. The defense will try anyway, and we will be ready.
“Under Florida law as amended by House Bill 837, a plaintiff who is more than 50 percent at fault is barred from recovering any damages. A plaintiff who is 50 percent or less at fault may recover, but the recovery is reduced in proportion to the plaintiff’s percentage of fault.”
Statute of limitations reduction. Before HB 837, the statute of limitations for general negligence claims in Florida was four years. After HB 837, the deadline is two years from the date the cause of action accrues. For a negligent security case involving an assault that happened on August 28, 2024, the two-year clock runs from that date, which means the deadline to file suit is August 28, 2026. This case was filed well within that window, but if you have a similar fact pattern and have not yet filed, the clock is the most important fact in this entire page.
Other changes you should know about. HB 837 also tightened the rules on expert witnesses, bad-faith claims against insurance carriers, and attorney fee-shifting in certain cases. These changes are technical, but they affect how we build and present your case, and we are accounting for every one of them.
The Evidence That Disappears Fastest: Why You Cannot Wait
If you are reading this page shortly after your attack, this is the section to read twice. The evidence that proves your case is on a clock, and several of the most important pieces of proof have very short lives.
The Airbnb reservation and guest records. The platform that booked the guests into that home, the messages between the host and the guests, the cleaning schedule, the host’s notes about the prior break-ins, the platform’s internal review of the prior complaints: these records exist on Airbnb’s servers and on the host’s account, but they are not kept forever. A preservation demand must go out to Airbnb immediately, asking for the full reservation file for the stay that preceded your attack, the host’s communication log, and any prior complaint history for the property. The platform has every incentive to argue that some of these records are “user-generated” and outside their retention obligation. The legal argument is the other way: the records are central to your case, and the law allows a court to sanction a party that lets them disappear after notice.
The property’s own records. The host may have a text thread with the property manager about the break-ins, a maintenance log, a police-call log, or a record of work orders related to the broken window. These are the kinds of documents that the host thinks of as personal and disposable, but in a negligent security case they are central. They can be on a personal phone, in a personal email, in a property-management software system, or in a paper file. We need them preserved now, before the host decides to clean out the file cabinet.
Surveillance video from the neighborhood. Many Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods have Ring doorbells, Nest cameras, and external surveillance systems. The footage from the day of your attack, and the days immediately before, may show the intruder approaching the home, casing the property, or leaving after the attack. Most of these systems keep footage for 30 to 60 days, and some keep it for as little as 14 days. The preservation demand to those homeowners has to go out the day you call us, not the day the case is filed.
Police reports and CAD records. The two prior break-ins almost certainly generated police reports and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) records. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is the agency of record. Public records requests can be made, but they take time, and the records can be purged or archived on a rolling schedule. We make those requests immediately.
911 call audio. If you called 911, the audio recording of that call is a record. It captures your voice in real time, at the moment you were asking for help. Audio retention varies by agency. We work to preserve it.
Your own medical and counseling records. The hospital where you were examined, the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) who conducted the forensic exam, the rape kit evidence, the counselor or therapist you have seen since, the psychiatrist who has prescribed any medication for the trauma response. All of these records are being created right now. They are yours. They are protected by HIPAA, but you can authorize their release to us so we can build the damages case. The earlier we obtain them, the more complete the picture.
Your own recollection. Memory is evidence, and memory fades. We want to sit down with you and record your account of what happened, in detail, while the details are still fresh. The defense will depose you, and the most powerful thing you can do is walk in with a clear and consistent account of the worst day of your life. Recording it now, with us, makes that possible.
The Adjuster’s Playbook: The Three Calls You Will Get, and What to Say
Within days of the lawsuit becoming public, or within hours of your attorney contacting the defendants, you will be contacted by insurance adjusters and defense attorneys representing Airbnb and the property owner. They will be friendly. They will be professional. They will be working for the people we are suing to protect. Here is what to expect, and what to do.
Play 1: The Quick Settlement Call. The first call is almost always an adjuster who wants to know if you are willing to settle quickly, for a number that sounds substantial to someone who has not yet been through the litigation process. The number will be a fraction of what your case is worth. They will tell you that the case will be hard to prove, that juries are skeptical of assault claims, that the money on the table is real and you should take it. Do not take the call without us on the line. Do not sign anything. Do not give a recorded statement. A quick settlement protects the defendants, not you.
Play 2: The Recorded Statement. The second play is to get you on the record, on tape, before your attorney has had time to prepare you. The questions are designed to lock you into a version of events that minimizes what the defendants knew, what they should have done, and what the impact of the attack has been on your life. You do not have to give a recorded statement. You do not have to talk to the other side without your lawyer present. Politely decline and refer them to us. The case file the judge and jury will read is built from evidence, not from a single recorded phone call.
Play 3: The Social Media and Surveillance Watch. Once the defendants know you are a sexual assault victim with a pending case, they will look at your social media. They will look at your public posts. They will look for any sign that you are not as hurt as you say you are, or that you are inconsistent in any way. Lock down your social media. Set your accounts to private. Do not post about the case, the attack, your therapy, or your recovery. Do not post anything you would not want a defense attorney to read aloud to a jury. This is not a reflection on you; it is a reflection on the defense playbook.
If you are contacted by an adjuster, a defense attorney, or anyone else representing the defendants before you have spoken with us, the answer is simple: “I am not giving a statement. Please contact my attorney.” Then call us at 1-888-ATTY-911.
What Your Case Is Worth: A Honest Valuation
We will not quote you a number. We will not promise you a result. Any lawyer who tells you, before investigating the case, what it is worth, is selling something. What we can tell you is the structure of a negligent security case in Florida, and what categories of damages the law allows you to recover.
Economic damages. The medical bills from the emergency room, the forensic exam, the counseling and therapy you have needed and will continue to need, the prescription medications, the lost wages from the time you have been unable to work. These are the categories that can be added up with receipts and invoices. They are real, they are provable, and they are the floor of your recovery.
Future economic damages. If the attack has impaired your ability to work, your ability to keep a job, or your ability to return to the cleaning profession specifically, the law allows you to recover the difference between what you would have earned and what you will earn. This category requires an economist or a vocational expert to model, and it is the place where lifetime lost-earning capacity figures come from.
Non-economic damages. The pain. The suffering. The terror that comes back at 3 a.m. The way your body tenses when a stranger walks up behind you. The marriage that has been strained. The friendships that fell away because you could not explain. The way you cannot be in a room alone anymore. The way the world feels smaller and meaner. Florida law does not cap general non-economic damages in this category of case the way some other states do, and juries in Broward County take sexual assault cases seriously.
Punitive damages. Florida law allows punitive damages where the defendant’s conduct shows a “conscious disregard or indifference” to the rights or safety of others. Two prior break-ins at the same property, and no meaningful change to security before a cleaning worker was raped inside. That is the kind of fact pattern that supports a punitive award, designed to punish the defendant and to deter the same conduct by others.
The realistic range. Negligent security cases involving sexual assault at a short-term rental, with documented prior break-ins at the same property, have resulted in verdicts and settlements in the seven-figure and, in cases with the most severe injuries, eight-figure range. The exact number in your case depends on the strength of the evidence, the venue (Broward County juries hear negligent security cases regularly and are receptive to well-prepared plaintiffs), the severity of the long-term harm, and the identity and insurance of the defendants. A well-prepared case against a platform like Airbnb, with documented prior notice of criminal activity at the property, is not a small case. We will not pretend otherwise.
We work these cases on contingency. You pay no fee unless we win. Your free consultation is exactly that: free, confidential, and pressure-free. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 to begin.
The Medicine of What Was Done to You
A sexual assault is a physical injury, a psychological injury, and a life-course disruption, and each of those is real and compensable under Florida law.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The diagnostic criteria for PTSD, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), require exposure to a traumatic event, intrusion symptoms (the nightmares, the flashbacks, the unwanted memories), avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, negative alterations in mood and cognition, hyperarousal, and a duration of more than one month. What was done to you meets the threshold criterion. The rest of the criteria are the clinical picture we will help your treating providers document.
Rape as the most psychologically damaging traumatic event. The National Comorbidity Survey, the landmark epidemiological study of trauma in the United States, found that rape carried the highest conditional probability of producing PTSD of any traumatic event measured. Approximately 65 percent of men and 46 percent of women who were raped go on to develop PTSD. The lifetime cost of rape, in medical care, lost productivity, and criminal-justice involvement, has been estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at well over $100,000 per victim, in 2014 dollars, and that figure does not include pain and suffering or the long-term psychological care that is often required for years after the attack. We will not put a number in print that we have not verified with a current, named source. We will tell you that the science is unambiguous: the harm that was done to you is real, it is diagnosable, and it is compensable.
Tonic immobility. Research published in the Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica found that approximately 70 percent of rape survivors report significant tonic immobility during the assault, and 48 percent report extreme tonic immobility. Tonic immobility is an involuntary, brainstem-mediated paralysis that occurs when the body perceives that escape is impossible. It is not consent. It is not compliance. It is a documented survival response, and if you froze, if you could not move, if you could not scream, that does not mean you agreed to what was done to you. The defense will not raise this directly, but the jurors may wonder, and your attorney will make sure the science is in the record.
Delayed disclosure is the norm. Sexual assault survivors commonly do not report immediately. The memory of the assault can be fragmented. The disclosure can come days, weeks, or months later. None of this is unusual, and none of it undermines your credibility. We know how to present a sexual assault case to a jury without letting these predictable defense tactics land.
The Insurance Tower Behind the Defendants
Airbnb, as a platform, carries its own commercial general liability and excess coverage. The property owner carries a homeowner’s or landlord policy, often with significant coverage limits. The property management company, if there is one, carries its own coverage. The security or alarm company carries products and completed-operations coverage if their system failed.
In a negligent security case, the insurance available is often the difference between a real recovery and a paper victory. We work to identify every policy, every layer, every excess tower, and every defendant that may carry coverage. That investigation begins the day we are retained and runs through the discovery process.
We do not get paid unless we win. There is no fee to you to start, and there is no fee to you if we do not recover. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. That is how this works, and that is how we make sure the cost of pursuing justice is never a barrier to getting it.
What the First 72 Hours Look Like If You Call Us Today
If you call us today at 1-888-ATTY-911, here is what happens next.
Within 24 hours: a free, confidential consultation. We listen. We do not pressure. We answer questions in plain English. If you decide to retain us, we sign a contingency agreement that means you pay nothing unless we win.
Within 48 hours: the preservation letter goes out. We send written demands to Airbnb, the property owner, the property management company, the security or alarm company, and any other defendant, ordering them to preserve every record that could be relevant to your case, including reservation records, host communications, prior incident reports, cleaning schedules, maintenance logs, surveillance footage, and any other documentary evidence. We also send preservation requests to neighboring homeowners who may have Ring or other external cameras, and we send public records requests to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department for the police reports and CAD records on the prior break-ins.
Within the first week: we connect you with a forensic medical expert who can document your injuries in the language a jury will understand, a forensic economist who can model your lifetime lost earnings if your ability to work has been impaired, and a treating clinician who can begin the documentation of the long-term psychological harm. We move at the speed your case requires, without ever losing the precision the law demands.
We work these cases on contingency. No fee unless we win. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 for a free consultation.
Why This Firm: The Lawyers Who Will Carry Your Case
The case you are bringing is not a volume case. It is not one of a thousand files on a desk. It is a sexual assault case, brought by a woman who was doing her job, against a platform and a property owner who knew the property had been broken into twice. It demands a firm that can match the resources of Airbnb’s defense team without sacrificing the personal attention that a case like this requires. That is the firm we are.
Ralph Manginello is our Managing Partner. He has practiced in courtrooms for more than 27 years, including federal court, and he has spent that career representing people who were hurt by careless conduct and the institutions that enabled it. Before he was a lawyer, Ralph was a journalist, and the discipline of asking what actually happened and demanding proof is the discipline he brought into the courtroom. He is admitted to the State Bar of Texas and to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He represents clients in Florida as part of our firm’s trial team, working with local counsel as the case requires. Ralph is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Houston Bar Association, and the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, and he is the lead counsel on commercial-truck, premises-liability, and catastrophic-injury cases across the firm’s footprint. He is a graduate of South Texas College of Law Houston and holds a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a 4.9-star rated attorney with more than 250 reviews on Google, and a substantial record of recoveries in cases involving negligent security, commercial-vehicle collisions, and catastrophic injury.
Lupe Peña is our associate attorney, and he is, frankly, the reason this firm wins cases that other firms lose. Before he joined us, Lupe spent years as an insurance-defense attorney at a national defense firm. He sat in the rooms where the adjusters, the software, and the case budgets are decided. He knows the other side’s playbook from the inside, because he used to run it. Today, he uses that knowledge to dismantle the same playbook for the people we represent. Lupe is fluent in Spanish, and he conducts full client consultations in Spanish without an interpreter, which matters enormously in cases like yours where the community most affected by negligent security is too often a community the legal system has not historically served well. Lupe is admitted to the State Bar of Texas and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and he represents clients across the firm’s practice area. He is a graduate of South Texas College of Law Houston and holds a degree in international business from Saint Mary’s University in San Antonio. His vantage point from inside the insurance defense industry is the firm’s quiet advantage, and it shows in every demand letter, every deposition, and every settlement negotiation we handle.
Together, Ralph and Lupe have built a firm that does not advertise its way to verdicts, and does not settle cases to clear a docket. We investigate. We prepare. We try cases when the defense refuses to do the right thing. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Hablamos Español.
The Four Fronts We Fight On
Front One: The Negligent Security Case Against the Property Owner
The property owner on Southeast 19th Street owed a duty to protect you, the cleaning professional who had permission to be on the property, from foreseeable criminal harm. Two prior break-ins in the weeks before your attack made the harm foreseeable. The owner’s failure to take reasonable steps to address those prior incidents, and the failure to provide a safe environment for the people who had to enter the home after guests, is the breach. The breach caused your attack. The case is built from the property owner’s own knowledge of the prior incidents, the police reports, the host communications, the cleaning schedule, and the absence of meaningful security measures.
Front Two: The Negligent Security Case Against Airbnb
Airbnb is not a passive listing service. It controls the standards, the booking, the payment, the host vetting, and the security expectations for every property on its platform. When it marketed this Fort Lauderdale home as a verified, safe place to stay, and when it collected a fee from the guests, it took on a duty of reasonable care toward the people who would be affected by what happened inside. That duty extends to the cleaning professional who had to enter the home after the guests left. Prior complaints about the property, prior criminal incidents, and the platform’s failure to act on them are the spine of the case against the platform.
Front Three: The Property Management and Security Vendor Liability
If a property management company, an alarm company, or a security vendor had a role in maintaining the property, the company, the communications, the maintenance logs, and the service records are all part of the picture. A broken alarm system that was never repaired. A security guard who was not on duty the morning you were attacked. A property manager who knew about the break-ins and did not act. Each of these is a separate front, and each adds a defendant and a coverage tower to the case.
Front Four: The Damages Case
The harm done to you will be with you for the rest of your life. The medical records, the counseling records, the expert testimony on PTSD, the forensic economist’s calculation of lifetime lost earnings, the testimony of your treating providers, the testimony of your family about who you were before and who you are now, the testimony of the sexual assault nurse examiner who documented the physical and forensic findings on the morning of the attack. This is the part of the case that turns an incident into a number, and the number is what funds your care, your recovery, and the life you are going to rebuild.
We are ready to take this on. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Call 1-888-ATTY-911.
The Verdicts That Have Been Won in Cases Like Yours
We are careful about citing verdicts, because a verdict that is on appeal, or that was reduced, or that was reversed, is not a verdict we will tell you about as if it were a win. The negligent security verdicts that have been affirmed in recent years include multi-million and, in some cases, eight-figure results against property owners, hotel chains, and short-term rental platforms. The pattern is consistent: when the property had documented prior criminal activity, when the victim was a worker or a guest who had a right to be there, and when the jury heard the full story, juries have returned verdicts that reflect the catastrophic harm of being sexually assaulted in a place that was supposed to be safe.
We will walk you through the comparable verdicts in your specific venue, with the procedural status of each one, when we sit down for your consultation. We will not tell you what your case is worth in print. We will tell you what we have seen juries do in similar cases, and we will tell you honestly.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
What You Should Do Right Now
If you have just been attacked, or if you are reading this page in the days and weeks after your attack, the first steps are simple and they matter enormously.
- Get medical care. If you have not already been examined at a hospital, do so today. A SANE nurse will document your injuries and collect forensic evidence. The hospital records are the foundation of your damages case and the foundation of the criminal case, if the attacker is identified.
- Get counseling. You do not have to wait until the case is filed. A sexual assault counselor or trauma therapist will help you begin the work of recovery, and the treatment records will be part of the damages case.
- Lock down your social media. Privacy settings, every account. The defense will be looking.
- Do not give a recorded statement to anyone. Not the property owner, not the insurance company, not Airbnb. Refer them to your attorney.
- Do not sign anything. Not a release, not a settlement offer, not a “privacy” agreement, not a non-disclosure. Anything you sign now binds you later.
- Call us. 1-888-ATTY-911. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. We will do the rest.
If you are a family member reading this on behalf of a woman who was attacked, the steps are the same. The consultation is free, the conversation is confidential, and there is no obligation. The hardest part is making the call. We make the rest of it our job.
How We Are Paid: Contingency, Plainly
We work these cases on contingency. You do not pay us an hourly fee. You do not pay us a retainer. You do not pay us anything out of pocket. We advance the costs of the case, including the filing fees, the expert witnesses, the depositions, the records retrieval, and the trial preparation. If we win a recovery for you, our fee is a percentage of the recovery (33 and 1/3 percent before trial, 40 percent if the case goes to verdict), and the costs are reimbursed from the recovery. If we do not win, you owe us nothing for our time and nothing for the costs we advanced.
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. That is the deal, and it is the only deal we offer, because it is the deal that puts the risk on us and the decision in your hands. You can read more about how contingency fees work in personal injury cases on our YouTube channel, and you can see the full scope of our law practice areas on the firm website.
Hablamos Español. We serve your family fully in Spanish, in English, or in both, and the consultation is the same either way.
Where We Are, and How to Reach Us
The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC, operating as Attorney911, is a Texas-based trial firm with a national practice that includes commercial-vehicle, catastrophic-injury, and premises-liability cases in Florida. The senior trial team, led by Ralph Manginello and Lupe Peña, brings more than four decades of combined experience to your case. We are not a volume practice. We are a trial firm. We do not settle cases to clear a docket; we settle cases when the settlement is the right answer, and we try cases when it is not.
To begin, call 1-888-ATTY-911. The call is free. The conversation is confidential. There is no obligation. If we are the right firm for your case, we will tell you. If we are not, we will tell you that too, and we will point you to a lawyer who is.
You can also contact us through the firm website, learn more about Ralph at his attorney profile and Lupe at his attorney profile, and explore the premises liability and negligent security sections of our practice.
Hablamos Español.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can sue after a sexual assault at a short-term rental in Florida?
The victim of the assault has the right to bring a civil claim for damages against any party whose negligence contributed to the attack. In a negligent security case at an Airbnb, the typical defendants are the property owner, the property management company, Airbnb as the platform, and any security or alarm vendor whose system failed. If the victim is unable to bring the case herself because of the severity of the psychological harm, a guardian or next friend can bring the claim on her behalf.
How long do I have to file a negligent security lawsuit in Florida?
Under the tort reform legislation known as House Bill 837, effective March 24, 2023, the statute of limitations for general negligence claims in Florida, including negligent security claims arising from incidents on or after that date, is two years from the date the cause of action accrues. For an assault that occurred on August 28, 2024, the two-year deadline runs from that date. If you have a similar fact pattern, the two-year clock is the single most important fact in your case, and the time to call a lawyer is now. The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC, offers a free consultation to evaluate the clock on your case. Call 1-888-ATTY-911.
What if I was partly at fault for being at the property alone?
Florida law, as modified by the 2023 tort reform legislation, follows a modified comparative negligence rule. A plaintiff who is more than 50 percent at fault is barred from recovering any damages. A plaintiff who is 50 percent or less at fault can still recover, but the recovery is reduced by the plaintiff’s percentage of fault. In a sexual assault case, the defense will almost certainly try to argue comparative fault, but the law and the facts strongly favor the victim in this kind of case. A cleaning professional who had a legitimate right to be on the property, performing a job she had performed many times before, and who was attacked by an intruder with a knife, will not be found more than 50 percent at fault for what was done to her. We have the case law to prove it.
What damages can I recover in a Florida negligent security case?
Florida law allows the victim of a negligent security assault to recover economic damages (medical bills, counseling costs, prescription medications, lost wages), future economic damages (lifetime lost earning capacity, future medical care, life-care planning), non-economic damages (pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium), and, where the defendant’s conduct shows a conscious disregard for the safety of others, punitive damages designed to punish and deter. The specific number in your case depends on the strength of the evidence, the severity of the harm, the identity and insurance of the defendants, and the venue. We will walk you through the comparable verdicts in Broward County, with their current procedural status, when we sit down for your consultation.
What evidence do I need to prove negligent security at a Florida property?
The most important evidence is the property’s prior incident history. Two break-ins in the weeks before your attack is the proof of foreseeability, and the proof of foreseeability is the proof of the duty. Beyond that, the case is built from the host’s communications with the property manager, the platform’s internal complaint history, the maintenance logs, the cleaning schedule, the police reports and CAD records, the surveillance footage from the property and from neighbors, and the absence of meaningful security measures (no working alarm, no smart-lock code reset, no security patrol, no temporary surveillance). The defense will try to argue that the prior break-ins were different in kind, or that the property was in a safe neighborhood, or that the attacker was a third party they could not have foreseen. Our job is to make sure the jury sees what the platform and the owner already knew.
How long will my case take?
Every case is different. A negligent security case that settles early can resolve in 12 to 24 months. A case that goes through full discovery and trial can take three to five years. The timeline depends on the defendants’ willingness to accept responsibility, the strength of the evidence, the court’s calendar, and whether the criminal case has progressed. We do not drag cases, and we do not settle them before the evidence has been fully developed. We will give you an honest timeline projection once we have reviewed the specific facts of your case.
Do I have to prove who attacked me to win the negligent security case?
No. Florida negligent security law does not require the victim to identify, apprehend, or convict the attacker. The case is against the property owner and the platform, not the attacker. The case is built on the foreseeability of the attack (the prior break-ins) and the failure of the defendants to act on what they knew or should have known. The criminal case against the attacker is a separate proceeding, and the two cases can run on parallel tracks. We will not let the absence of an arrest stop your civil case from moving forward.
Will the defense try to blame me for the attack?
Yes. It is the predictable playbook. The defense will try to argue that you should not have been in the home alone, that you should have noticed something was wrong, that you should have called the police earlier, that you delayed disclosure, that your memory is fragmented, that you are exaggerating your symptoms. None of these arguments is a defense to the legal claim. The law places the duty on the property owner and the platform, not on you. We know how to neutralize each of these defense tactics, and we know how to put the focus back where it belongs: on the defendants who had the knowledge and the resources to make the property safe, and who did not.
How much will it cost me to hire Attorney911?
Nothing. Not a retainer. Not an hourly fee. Not a charge for filing fees, expert witnesses, depositions, or any other cost of pursuing your case. We work on contingency. We advance the costs. We get paid only if we recover for you, and our fee is a percentage of the recovery (33 and 1/3 percent before trial, 40 percent if the case goes to verdict). If we do not win, you owe us nothing. The consultation is free. The case is free to start. You pay nothing unless we win. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 to begin.
Can Airbnb force me into arbitration instead of letting me go to court?
Airbnb’s terms of service contain an arbitration clause, and the platform will almost certainly attempt to compel arbitration if you file a lawsuit directly against Airbnb. There are several legal arguments against enforcing that arbitration clause in a case like yours, including arguments that the clause does not cover the kind of claim you are bringing, that the clause is unconscionable as applied to a sexual assault victim, and that Airbnb waived the right to arbitrate by its conduct. We are prepared to litigate the arbitration fight if it arises, and we have done it before. The bottom line is this: do not let the threat of arbitration scare you out of pursuing your case. We will handle it.
What if I am undocumented? Will that affect my case?
No. Florida personal injury law does not require the victim to be a U.S. citizen or a legal resident to bring a negligent security claim. Your immigration status is not admissible in a Florida civil case, and we will move to exclude it if the defense tries to raise it. You have the same right to pursue your case as any other victim of negligent security in Florida. Hablamos Español. We will serve your family fully in Spanish, and the consultation is the same regardless of the language we use to talk.
What if the attacker is never caught? Does that kill my case?
No. The criminal case and the civil case are separate proceedings. The criminal case requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the State, not you, has the burden. The civil case requires proof by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a much lower standard. The civil case is against the property owner and the platform, not against the attacker. The attacker’s identity is not an element of the negligent security claim. We will build the case on the evidence that the property owner and the platform had notice of the prior break-ins, failed to act, and exposed you to foreseeable harm. The case can and will move forward regardless of the criminal investigation.
What if the property owner or Airbnb offers me money before I have a lawyer?
Do not accept it. Do not sign anything. Do not give a recorded statement. The first offer is almost always a fraction of what the case is worth, and it is designed to lock you in before you understand the value of your claim. Refer the offer to your attorney. If you do not have an attorney, call us at 1-888-ATTY-911. The consultation is free, and we will tell you whether the offer is real money or a trap. Hablamos Español.
Will my name become public if I file a lawsuit?
In a negligent security case, the lawsuit itself is a public court filing, and the defendants’ attorneys will know your name. In a sexual assault case, however, Florida law allows the victim to proceed under a pseudonym (in this case, “Jane Doe”), and the court can seal sensitive medical and psychological records. We will work with you to protect your privacy to the maximum extent the law allows. The point of the case is justice, not public exposure. We will make sure the process protects you.
What should I do today if I have just been attacked?
Get medical care. Get counseling. Lock down your social media. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not sign anything. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 for a free, confidential consultation. The preservation of evidence and the protection of your legal rights begin the day you call. We will do the rest.
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Call 1-888-ATTY-911. Hablamos Español.
The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC, operating as Attorney911, is a Texas-based trial firm with a national practice that includes commercial-vehicle, catastrophic-injury, and premises-liability cases in Florida. The senior trial team, led by Ralph Manginello and Lupe Peña, brings more than four decades of combined experience to cases involving sexual assault, negligent security, and catastrophic injury. We are not a volume practice. We are a trial firm. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. If we are not the right firm for your case, we will tell you, and we will point you to a lawyer who is. To begin, call 1-888-ATTY-911.
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