Finch McCranie, LLP is a personal injury law firm in Atlanta, Georgia that represents clients who were injured on premises due to inadequate security. We have helped many premises liability clients recover compensation for their personal injuries.

In Georgia, landlords, apartment management companies, and innkeepers are generally not legally obligated to ensure that a tenant or his or her property are protected from third parties engaged in criminal actions. A landlord is not the guarantor of the safety of his or her tenants.

A landlord's liability to his or her tenants is therefore not contingent upon anticipating that a certain person might get hurt or a certain kind of injury will be sustained. If, however, a landlord should have known of a potentially perilous situation and neglected to take steps that a prudent person would normally take to prevent tenants from getting hurt, the landlord may be considered liable if a tenant or visitor is injured on the premise. The injury victim can file a personal injury claim or lawsuit against the landlord or premise owner.

For example, if a landlord has reason to believe that his or her tenants could potentially become the victims of a criminal act and the landlord either neglects to warn the tenants of the possible peril and/or does not put the proper safety measures in place, the landlord can be held liable for damages if anyone is injured or killed due to inadequate security.

In another example, a landlord of an apartment building may be aware that there is a rapist attacking tenants on the premise. The landlord therefore has a duty to notify all tenants of the danger and provide reasonable security measures to protect tenants from future attacks. If a landlord does not provide proper security and/or proper warning and another tenant is raped, the rape victim could file a personal injury lawsuit against the landlord.

In this new era of city living and growing crime rates, the courts in Georgia are aware that landlords, apartment management companies, and innkeepers can be held liable for breach of duty for not warning tenants of potentially dangerous circumstances. This possibility of personal injury liability is hopefully enough to compel landlords to take the proper steps that are necessary to warn tenants and protect them from these dangers.

If you are an apartment tenant in Georgia, state law mandates that your landlord or apartment manager must notify you of any potential criminal activity in or around the premise.

To ask for your free consultation with one of our experienced Atlanta, Georgia premises liability attorneys, contact us online or call Finch McCranie, LLP at —toll-free—(800) 228-9159 or at (404) 658-9070.