Can a Georgia property be liable for a shooting on its premises?

· 3 min read

A property owner in Georgia can be held responsible for a shooting on its grounds, though the gun violence itself does not establish liability. The law looks at whether the owner failed to use reasonable care against a danger it should have foreseen and whether that failure contributed to the harm.

The owner’s duty and the criminal act

The duty begins with O.C.G.A. § 51-3-1, which requires an owner or occupier to use ordinary care to keep the premises and approaches safe for invitees. Georgia recognizes that this duty can include reasonable protection against the criminal acts of third parties, and a shooting is among the violent crimes a negligent-security claim may address. The owner is not an insurer and does not guarantee that no violence will occur. The question is whether a reasonably careful operator, aware of the risks this property faced, would have done more.

Foreseeability of violent crime

A shooting claim usually rises or falls on foreseeability. Georgia courts ask whether substantially similar violence had struck at or around the site before, the lens Sturbridge Partners, Ltd. v. Walker provides, while keeping the location’s wider conditions in view. Evidence that can establish foreseeability includes:

  • A history of shootings, armed robberies, or other violent crime at the site.
  • Police call logs and incident reports tied to the address.
  • The owner’s own records reflecting prior threats or complaints.

The closer earlier incidents come to the shooting in nature, location, and timing, the stronger the showing that the danger was foreseeable and called for a reasonable response.

Causation and apportionment

Even with foreseeability established, the injured person or a decedent’s family must show that a security failure helped cause the harm, meaning reasonable measures would likely have deterred or prevented the shooting. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 the fault is broken into percentages borne by the owner, the wounded victim, and the shooter, and a victim whose own percentage reaches that 50 percent threshold is left without recovery. Where a shooting causes death, Georgia’s wrongful-death framework under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-1 et seq. governs who may bring a claim for the “full value of the life” of the person killed, separate from any survival action for the decedent’s own pre-death losses. A claim for the injuries themselves ordinarily must be filed within the two years O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 allows.

The bottom line

A Georgia property can be liable for a shooting on its premises when the violence was foreseeable, the owner neglected reasonable security, and that lapse helped cause the harm. The case depends on the property’s crime history, the precautions a careful operator would have taken, and how Georgia apportions fault between the owner and the shooter.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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