NEGLIGENT SECURITY LAWYER

Apartment residents, hotel guests, restaurant and bar patrons, and the customers of almost any business have a right to be safe and secure. Georgia law requires landlords and property owners to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety and security of their tenants, guests and customers. An experienced negligent security lawyer can help crime victims recover damages when property owners fail to protect its residents, visitors and guests from known dangers.

In this video, Page Pate explains the elements of a negligent security lawsuit.

A negligent security lawsuit should be considered anytime a resident, visitor or guest is the victim of a crime or other injury as a result of the property owner’s failure to provide adequate security for known dangers.

You don’t have to wait for the police and the state to find and prosecute the criminal before seeking justice. Ask yourself: Was this crime foreseeable? Could it have been prevented? Did the property owner or business have adequate security measures in place to keep visitors safe?

Under Georgia law, apartment complexes and commercial property owners are legally responsible to their tenants and customers for injuries and losses caused by their negligent failure to have adequate security on the property.

Of course, that doesn’t mean every time a crime happens in a store’s parking lot, the store will be held responsible. To hold a property owner liable for the injuries and losses resulting from a crime, you have to show they failed “to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe.”

In other words, property owners have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to improve security on their property if there they know or have a reason to suspect there is an increased risk of crime occurring on the property. This doesn’t mean every business has to hire armed security guards, but it might mean improving lighting, hiring security patrols, installing gates and alarm systems, or at least posting warning signs for visitors. The amount of security that is reasonable will depend on a number of different factors, especially the owner’s prior experience with criminal attacks on their property. An experienced negligent security lawyer can help crime victims recover compensation for any injuries suffered when a property owner doesn’t protect its residents, visitors and guests form known dangers.

Crime can occur anywhere, but especially in places where there is inadequate security. Below are some examples of situations where a property owner’s negligence in having inadequate security can leave visitors exposed to a foreseeable (and perhaps preventable) crime:

• Apartment complexes that do not have proper or sufficient security features installed, such as gates at the entrance or security patrols, despite prior crimes occurring in the complex, including assaults, rapes, and murders
• Landlords and property management companies that fail to warn or notify tenants and residents about known criminals in the area, including fugitives and inmates who have escaped prison
• Stores and shopping centers that do not hire security guards or have poor lighting at night, especially when they are aware of violent crimes occurring in the parking lots after dark
• Businesses that fail to conduct background checks for their employees and hire an employee with a criminal record who then commits a violent or sexual crime against a customer
• Nightclubs and bars in areas of high crime that do nothing to protect their patrons despite reported incidents of crime in the surrounding area
• Hotels and motels that are aware of crimes that have occurred on their property, but fail to warn visitors of these incidents and/or fail to take efforts to prevent future crimes on their property
• Subways and train operators, like MARTA or Amtrak, that know of criminal activity happening on the trains or at train stations but don’t install cameras and lights or hire enough security officers
• College campuses that receive reports of sexual assaults or robberies but do not increase security measures or hold culprits responsible
• Parking garages that do not install gates or have cameras when they know of recent car thefts in nearby areas

If you are the victim of an attack or assault at an apartment, hotel or other business, you should take action now. Contact an experienced negligent security lawyer at our firm for a free consultation with one of our attorneys. There is no charge for discussing your case with one of our lawyers, and you will pay nothing unless we win your case. We have offices in Atlanta and Brunswick, Georgia, and a satellite office in Washington, D.C.