When you’ve become the victim of a crime that has left you with physical and emotional injuries, you may focus on pursuing justice from the person who hurt you. However, you may also have a legal claim against the owner of the property where the crime occurred if the lack of adequate security at the property made it easy for the crime to occur.
Negligent security claims can involve complicated factual and legal issues. Turn to an Atlanta negligent security attorney from Bayuk Pratt to guide you through the legal process. With over five decades of combined experience, our legal team has worked tirelessly to obtain maximum compensation and justice for our clients. We’ve recovered over $300 million for injured clients, and we know what it takes to win cases.
Our founding partners, Frank Bayuk and Bradley Pratt, were senior partners in two of the world’s most prestigious defense law firms, where they became experts in preparing defense strategies for insurers and corporations. They founded Bayuk Pratt to use their knowledge and insight to fight for those who were harmed by others and give them a unique advantage against insurers and businesses.
If you were injured in a crime that occurred because of negligent security on someone else’s property, you may be entitled to compensation from the property owner. Contact Bayuk Pratt for a free initial case review with a negligent security lawyer in Atlanta. Learn how we can help you pursue financial recovery for your medical bills, lost income, physical pain, and emotional trauma.
Why You Should Hire an Atlanta Negligent Security Attorney
Recovering from injuries inflicted by someone else may involve a long process of medical treatment and therapy. However, when those injuries occurred due to negligent security, you deserve accountability and money from the negligent property owner. Hiring legal counsel can make the recovery process less stressful.
Your attorney can handle all the details of preparing and pursuing your legal claims so you can focus on your treatment, rehab, and therapy. Let an Atlanta negligent security lawyer from Bayuk Pratt help you by:
- Thoroughly investigating your claim to obtain evidence proving that the property owner’s security was negligent
- Identifying other potentially liable parties, such as third-party security companies
- Evaluating legal avenues for obtaining compensation
- Documenting your physical, emotional, and mental injuries and calculating your ongoing and future losses
- Communicating with insurance adjusters, company representatives, and defense lawyers on your behalf
- Fighting to recover maximum compensation for you, whether through a negotiated settlement or by taking your claims to court and trial
What Kinds of Damages Can I Pursue in an Atlanta Negligent Security Case?
When you’re the victim of a crime on another party’s property, and the crime occurred due to negligent security measures, you can file a premises liability lawsuit to pursue compensation. Examples of financial and personal losses you might get money for include:
- Costs of medical treatment and rehabilitation, including hospitalization, surgeries, prescriptions, doctor’s appointments, mental health therapy, or physical therapy
- Costs of long-term care for prolonged or permanent disabilities that result from your injuries
- Lost wages or income from missed time from work
- Loss of earning capacity if you become permanently disabled from your job
- Physical pain and emotional distress
- Loss of quality of life due to permanent scarring or disabilities
What Is Negligent Security?
Property and business owners who hold their premises open to the public may have an obligation to provide adequate security measures to keep visitors safe on the property. A property owner’s duty to provide security for the premises depends on the potential risk of criminal activity occurring on the property.
As an example, a bar or a nightclub may have a higher duty than a traditional restaurant to provide security measures, as patrons at a bar or nightclub have a higher risk of becoming overly intoxicated and committing a criminal act. Similarly, a business located in a high-crime area or with a history of experiencing criminal activity may have a higher duty to implement security measures.
Depending on a property owner’s duty to provide reasonable security for their premises, negligent security may occur when a property or business owner fails to provide:
- Gates or fences
- Locking doors and windows
- Door access controls
- Adequate lighting
- Panic buttons
- Security cameras
- Security personnel
- Security protocols
Negligent security can occur when a property has security features that have broken or don’t work, such as when a security camera or light stops working. Having inadequately trained security personnel may also constitute negligent security. Careless behavior by security personnel may also lead to a negligent security claim, such as when security guards fail to monitor surveillance cameras, don’t conduct patrols, or fall asleep at work.
How Can Negligent Security Affect Me?
When you visit a property with inadequate security measures, you face a higher risk of becoming the victim of a crime and being injured by an assailant. Criminals may target properties because they have inadequate security. Adequate security can prevent a crime from happening or stop a crime in progress before the criminal injures a victim.