Property owners and occupiers have a fundamental duty to reasonably protect those they invite onto their land from harm. This can include using basic security features that are designed to prevent third parties from hurting you. A Pooler negligent security lawyer from our firm, Chattahoochee Injury Law, can advocate for you if you wish to file a personal injury claim based on this specific strand of premises liability under Georgia law. Learn more about your potential rights if you have been injured through negligent security, and find out how our firm can represent your compensation claim against liable landowners.
Negligent security is a specific type of failure whereby a landowner or occupier does not keep their premises safe for others whom they invite onto it. Landowners have a general duty to exercise ordinary care in keeping their premises safe for invitees under Ga. Code § 51-3-1. Invitees are people invited onto the land for a lawful purpose, either through express or implied permission. For example, customers who enter a business to purchase goods or services would likely have implied permission to enter the premises and therefore qualify as an invitee.
A property owner or occupier’s failure to protect you against foreseeable risk of harm from third parties can take many different forms. The failures that could establish a property owner’s liability for negligent security, depending on the circumstances, can include:
The Georgia legislature also recently passed SB 68, which creates additional standards around your right to claim damages for negligent security against a property owner. The law provides greater clarity around the circumstances that make injury from a third party’s wrongful conduct reasonably foreseeable to an owner. In most cases, it is necessary to prove that an owner had actual knowledge of prior occurrences involving similar wrongful conduct on their property. An attorney from Pooler can help you review the facts of your negligent security case. They will also look for evidence to establish a property owner’s liability, based on how reasonably they could have foreseen the events that caused your injury.
Your civil lawsuit for negligent security will state the injuries you suffered because of the incident and the damages you incurred as a result. The severity of your damages will determine the potential compensation available to you in the case. Georgia allows you to recover two types of damages in most personal injury cases under Ga. Code § 51-12-2. General damages provide compensation for your pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other non-economic losses resulting from the negligent security. A jury can also award special damages for calculable losses, which include lost earnings or medical care costs for treating your injury.
Claims for insufficient protective measures are often complex cases because multiple parties could hold liability, which is why involving a Pooler attorney is so important. The parties named in such cases could include the property owner, their contracted security team, and the third party responsible for the wrongful conduct that directly caused your injury. A jury will determine the percentage of fault for each party involved in causing your injury, and Georgia law will then apportion liability among these parties. However, under Ga. Code § 51-11-7, if your own negligence is shown to have contributed to your injury, your recoverable compensation against other negligent parties can be reduced.
The deadline to file a personal injury claim, under the statute of limitations in Ga. Code § 9-3-33, is typically two years. The filing deadline begins to run on the date you were injured. Schedule a free case evaluation with an experienced Pooler negligent security lawyer from our firm, Chattahoochee Injury Law, today.
