Parking lots are a common scene of personal injury and are a good way to document exactly how and why. This is due to surveillance cameras and of course other guests.
The key to developing this evidence is to act quickly to make sure it is not deleted, overwritten, or forgotten. Although there are a variety of different scenarios, there are typically vehicle accidents, falls associated with dangerous conditions such as holes and criminal activity.
The first category is often less severe due to the slow speeds typically reached by vehicles in parking lots, but obviously vehicles encountering pedestrians are a whole different matter. Every time an object weighing several thousand pounds, such as a car or truck, hits a person, the person will suffer.
The culpable driver and his liability insurance bear the financial responsibility for such an event.
The second category, falls or slips, is difficult because not only must it be determined who was responsible for the condition that caused the event, but also that they knew or should have known about the dangerous condition.
The financial responsibility for such an event lies with the entity charged with maintaining the area in which the damage occurred. Sometimes this means a mall or store and sometimes there are literally companies that manage the parking lot themselves.
The last category, parking crime, falls into what is known as “property liability”. Parking lots offer criminals many opportunities to mingle with other customers and steal the contents of motor vehicles, as well as robbing and attacking customers.
In many cases, financial responsibility for such events is more difficult to determine. The analysis often reads: Was the mall or parking lot aware of the existence of criminal activity in or near its facility and did they inform customers about it and take steps to protect the public?
This potential liability explains why there are cameras in shopping center parking lots and security patrols. There is an unhealthy tension between the mall owner who wants to reassure their customers that they are completely safe and recognizing both past and present criminal activity that shoppers should be made aware of. You cannot protect yourself effectively against risks that you are not aware of.
The bottom line is that all of these potentially damaging events can be captured on video, and you need it to make your case unassailable.
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