Legal Question in Personal Injury in Georgia

Re: sexual assault

How was the owner negligent? How did that negligence (whatever it was) play a role in the intentional act of the person who commited the assault? If you are asking whether the owner can be liable just for being the owner, the answer is no.

Re: sexual assault

Yes, but only if there is evidence of prior incidents sufficient to put the owner on notice of increased risk of assault on the property. A plaintiff's attorney would go to police incident reports for this and surrounding properties and look for incidents of reasonably similar assaults, robberies, etc. Reports of domestic assaults and sexual offenses by people who had a relationship with the victim and most property crimes would be excluded.

Re: sexual assault

Yes. But to get an attorney to have any interest in the case there must be insurance or the complex must have substantial assets. There must also be some notice to the complex owner of prior, similar activity that would have put them on notice of security lapses. The facts of the case are very important.

Re: sexual assault

The liability of the landlord has to be based on negligence for the landlord to be legally responsible. Was the landlord negligent in some way? Is there a history of sexual assaults at that location which would put the landlord on notice of the danger triggering a duty to protect persons on the property with guards or a video system? Was a light out in the area making it easier for the assailant? Did the landlord do or fail to do something that caused the incident to happen or contibuted to it in some way? Another way to recover against the landlord would be if the assailant was the landlord's employee. This needs to be looked at carefully by someone who is out to obtain compensation for the victim who will look at the evidence for purposes of a recovery of damages for the injured party. The cops and the prosecutors will only be interested in putting the perp in jail--not in helping the victim get compensation. You better get a first class personal injury lawyer soon--before the evidence trail starts getting cold.

Re: sexual assault

During the past year, we have handled a number of premises sexual assault cases. There is no black and white answer as to whether the apartment complex is liable. It depends on the facts of the case. The law is very complicated in this area, but our firm has been very successful in recovering for victims of sexual assault.

I would very interested in hearing more of the facts.