Attacked at a
Gas Station
Injury Law Made Personal®
A long drive, a stop in the middle of the night, a key on a big metal ring and a restroom around the side of the building. A station that stays open all night knows who stops there and what happens after dark. When somebody steps out from the pumps and follows you, Illinois asks the people who own and run that station 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 at a Gas Station Is Not Your Fault
Open All Night, Miles From Anywhere
A lone station on an empty highway, lit up and open all night so drivers will stop. Staying open is a business decision, and so is how much lighting, how many cameras and how many staff come with it.
The Key on the Big Metal Ring
Pay inside, take the key, walk around the side of the building to a restroom nobody inside can see. Where that door is, how it is lit and whether anyone can see it are the owner’s choices.
Somebody at the Pumps
He has been standing by the pumps, out of the clerk’s view. Earlier robberies at the station, a camera that never worked, a lone clerk with no view of the restroom — that 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 Security at a Gas Station
A station that invites you to stop, fuel up and use its restroom owes you reasonable care under the Premises Liability Act, and Illinois treats a business and its customers as a special relationship
No station is an insurer of your safety. What creates the duty is notice: earlier robberies or attacks at the station or nearby, lights and cameras left broken, complaints that went nowhere
is the Illinois deadline for an injury lawsuit — shorter, with its own notice rules, if the lot belongs to a city or another public body, and longer only for a minor
Who Pays — and What You Can Recover
The Owner and the Operator
The company that owns the station and the one that runs it, often two different businesses, both answer for the lighting, the cameras, the restroom and the staffing. Their incident logs and camera records are the first things Ankin Law asks for.
Security They Took On
Illinois holds a business to what it actually undertook. A security company hired to patrol, a monitoring service paid to watch the cameras — 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 at a late-night stop 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 a Gas Station Attack
The Footage Overwrites Itself
Station cameras record on a loop, often for only days. Card payments and pump records show who was there and when. Earlier police calls to the address show what the owner already knew.
Expect to Hear It Was Your Fault
You will be asked why you stopped there, why you were alone, why it was so late. You stopped at a station that stays open all night so that people will stop. 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 at a gas station? If you were attacked because the lighting, the cameras or the staffing at a station were poor or missing, the footage is already counting down. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation with no obligation.
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