Followed In Through
Your Own Front Door
Injury Law Made Personal®
You unlocked your own building and went inside, and the heavy old door swung shut behind you the way it always does. It looked locked. It was not: the lock had been worn or broken for months, and one push was all it took. When a stranger walks in behind you, Illinois asks the owner and the manager a fair question: was this foreseeable, and was the security reasonable? Ankin Law has fought for injured Chicagoans for over 35 years.
Call 312.600.0000 Free Case ReviewWhy an Attack Inside Your Building Is Not Your Fault
Home, Key in the Lock
The same door you open every night: your key, the heavy wooden door swinging in, the door closing behind you. A locked front door is the security the building gives you, and the reason you feel safe once you are inside.
A Door That Only Looks Locked
The door is shut and looks secure. But a worn strike plate, a lock that no longer catches, a latch tenants have complained about — small repairs that cost little and were put off — mean it holds against nothing.
He Walks Right In
One push and the door gives, and he goes in after her. What the owner and the manager knew — complaints about the lock, earlier break-ins, a repair that sat on a list — is what decides whether this could have been prevented.
Is a Free Consultation Really Free?
Howard Ankin answers your questions directly.
What Illinois Law Says About Building Security
An owner who keeps control of the common areas — the lobby, the halls, the front door — owes the people who live there reasonable care in keeping them in safe repair. A front door lock is part of that repair
No landlord is an insurer of your safety. What creates the duty is notice: complaints about the door or the lock, earlier break-ins or attacks in the building or on the block, a repair that was requested and never made
is the Illinois deadline for an injury lawsuit — shorter, with its own notice rules, if the building is owned by a housing authority or another public body, and longer only for a minor
Who Pays — and What You Can Recover
The Owner
The owner answers for the doors, locks, lighting and common areas it controls. Its repair requests, its maintenance records and what tenants told it about that door are the first things Ankin Law asks for.
The Manager and Anyone Hired to Fix It
Illinois holds you to what you actually undertook. A management company running the building, a contractor paid to repair the door, a security company hired to watch it — once they take the job on, it has to be done with reasonable care.
What You Can Recover
Medical and psychological treatment, lost earnings, and what an attack inside your own building actually costs you — pain and suffering, disfigurement and loss of a normal life. Illinois reduces a recovery for your own share of fault, which is exactly why that share gets fought.
Why Ankin Law Is the Right Call After an Attack in Your Building
The Complaints Are Evidence
Emails to the manager, texts to the landlord, work orders that were opened and closed without a repair — those are what show the owner knew. Save them, and ask your neighbours to save theirs.
Expect to Hear It Was Your Fault
You will be asked why you did not check the door behind you, why you came home alone, why you did not move. You live there. Those questions are a strategy, not an investigation.
No Fee Unless You Win
You pay nothing to start and nothing unless Ankin Law recovers for you. The consultation is free and confidential, and there is no obligation to hire anyone. Howard Ankin has been doing this for over 40 years.
Get Your Free Case Review
Improper security in your building? If you were harmed because a door, a lock or the lighting was left broken, the repair records and the complaints are evidence. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation with no obligation.
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