Negligent security cases normally crop up in a couple of different scenarios.  

One is when there is a drunken brawl and people get injured in a bar.

Another scenario is often in a landlord/tenant scenario when a tenant is a break-in victim by an outsider.  Generally speaking, the commercial landlord has a duty towards the tenant for adequate security.  The same can be said for other commercial entities.

 

I once defended a case for a landlord in Hudson County. The landlord was a responsible person who had a front door that was only accessible with a key, given only to tenants. Unfortunately, the door had recently been broken (again) by a tenant who forgot their key and broke the lock. The assailant came through the broken front door, through the building and out the back. The assailant then went up the outside fire escape into his ex-girlfriend's bedroom and shot her with a pistol.

 

The target in these types of cases is the commercial entity on whose property the criminal act occurred.  Many factors are based on the evidence of a case, including criminal activity in the vicinity of the commercial property, which should be known by the landlord,.  Prior incidents are helpful but do not necessarily settle a case.  Expert witnesses are a fairly standard practice in the prosecution and defense of these types of cases.