Georgetown Negligent Security Lawyer
Property owners have a legal duty to provide safe environments for invited guests. If they drop the ball in this area, a Georgetown negligent security lawyer picks up that ball, runs with it, and obtains maximum compensation for victims.
Individuals are legally responsible for assaults, sexual assaults, and other violent crimes. If found guilty, these individuals receive punishment in criminal court. This punishment sometimes includes limited victim compensation, mostly for medical bills. However, restitution is normally only available if the defendant receives a slap-on-the-wrist sentence, like a brief period of probation.
Frequently, property owners are financially responsible for negligent security-related damages in civil court. Computer artists create movie effects that enhance the moviegoing experience, and negligent property owners who do not provide adequate security create environments favorable to criminals. Since they have a chance to stop assaults and other such crimes before they happen, they must face the music when they do happen.
Georgetown Negligent Security Lawyers and the Duty of Care
The same duty of care applies to all motorists, regardless of their status. But the duty of care varies in premises liability matters according to the victim’s status, as follows:
- Invitee: Most negligent security victims are invitees. They have direct or indirect permission to visit the building or house for commercial or social purposes. Property owners have a duty to ensure these guests are reasonably safe. They must set up adequate security systems and properly maintain them.
- Licensee: Some uninvited guests have a “license: to visit the property. This license basically means the owner doesn’t care if the person is there or not. A guest of an apartment tenant is a licensee. Since the relationship is not as close, the duty of care is not as high, and these people are legally entitled to less protection.
- Trespasser: Quite simply, guests are trespassers if they don’t have permission to enter and they don’t benefit the owner. A door-to-door salesperson who ignores a “no solicitors” sign is usually a trespasser. Owners must refrain from intentionally harming trespassers, but other than that, the law doesn’t protect them, at least in most cases.
This classification system is quite complex, mostly because the categories overlap. Tim the tenant is an invitee at an apartment complex unless he does not pay his rent or follow another rule. Then, he becomes a trespasser.
Knowledge of Hazard
To obtain compensation, a Georgetown negligent security lawyer must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the negligent security hazard.
Negligent security hazards include broken gates, burned-out lights, and other security gaps which create opportunities for criminals. A preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not) is one of the lowest standards of proof in South Carolina.
Foreseeability of Injury
Some violent crimes, like a shooting in a church parking lot, are completely unforeseeable (unpredictable). Others, like a shooting in a bar’s parking lot, are much more likely to occur.
Fundamentally, negligence law is about fairness. It is not fair to ask car crash victims to pay for another driver’s negligence. It is not fair to ask a property owner to pay for an injury that was completely unforeseeable. Some foreseeability factors include prior similar incidents in the area, the neighborhood’s crime rate, the type of business, and prior similar complaints.
The same standard of evidence, a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not), applies in foreseeability matters.
Connect With a Dedicated Georgetown County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Georgetown negligent security lawyer, contact the Stanley Law Group. We routinely handle matters throughout the Palmetto State.
