All of the suits of this type that I'm aware of have been pretty well misrepresented by the media or person telling the story. Generally they fall into a couple of categories:
1) The person injured was a child (usually omitted from the story).
2) The owner of the building knowingly set a dangerous trap for intruders (e.g: a shotgun pointed at the front door).
3) Ended in settlement with no admission of wrongdoing by any party.
4) Totally made up.
E.g: the popular "A burglar fell through a skylight and broke his ankle" story was actually a teenager, who climbed on the roof of his school to try to point a floodlight at the basketball court, and fell through a skylight, becoming permanently disabled. They settled out of court.
1) The person injured was a child (usually omitted from the story). 2) The owner of the building knowingly set a dangerous trap for intruders (e.g: a shotgun pointed at the front door). 3) Ended in settlement with no admission of wrongdoing by any party. 4) Totally made up.
E.g: the popular "A burglar fell through a skylight and broke his ankle" story was actually a teenager, who climbed on the roof of his school to try to point a floodlight at the basketball court, and fell through a skylight, becoming permanently disabled. They settled out of court.