Seeing cameras as you enter a parking garage or apartment complex often creates a sense of safety. When those cameras are merely decorative or have been left in disrepair, they provide you with nothing more than a false sense of security that can lead to devastating consequences.
If a property owner relies on the presence of cameras to deter crime but fails to keep them functional, you may be able to hold them legally accountable for injuries suffered during a criminal assault.
Duty of care in Georgia
In Georgia, property owners must exercise ordinary care to keep their premises safe for visitors. When an owner installs a camera system, they acknowledge that security is necessary to protect guests.
Allowing that system to fail is equivalent to breaching their legal duty to you. You do not have to prove that the camera would have caught the criminal’s face. Instead, you must show that the owner knew about the danger and failed to fix the equipment that could have deterred the attack.
Broken cameras lead to liability
Criminals often scout locations for easy targets where no one is watching. A non-working camera serves as an invitation for illegal activity rather than a warning. You can build a stronger negligent security case by looking into the following details:
- How long had the cameras been broken before your injury occurred?
- Did other crimes occur on the property while the cameras were down?
- How frequently did the property manager perform maintenance checks?
- Did the owner ignore written complaints from other tenants about security?
- Did the attacker choose that specific spot because of the lack of surveillance?
Documentation of these failures can help you secure compensation for medical bills, lost wages and emotional trauma. Evidence of neglect shows that your injury was foreseeable and preventable.
Proving your case without video
You might worry that a lack of video footage makes your case impossible to win. On the contrary, the absence of footage may demonstrate the owner’s negligence. You can use the missing data to establish that the property was not as safe as the owner claimed.
Legal professionals can demand maintenance logs and repair receipts through the discovery process. They can also hire security professionals to testify that working cameras would likely have prevented the attack. This approach shifts the focus to the owner’s failure to provide the safety they promised.
Time is of the essence
Georgia gives victims only a two-year window from the date of their attack to bring a personal injury action for negligent security. This deadline is strict and applies even if you are still recovering from your injuries.
Missing this deadline means you lose your right to pursue compensation entirely. The clock starts ticking the moment your attack occurs, not when you discover the cameras were broken or when you finish medical treatment.