Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A CCTV Installation Is The Best Defense Against Nuisance Lawsuits

By Ben Sparks

Nuisance lawsuits are filed against businesses every day. Some are won, some are dismissed and some never come to a civil jury. The chances are that the ones that were dismissed and the ones that never came to a jury had evidence presented to either the attorneys or jury from a CCTV system. A CCTV installation provides many opportunities for a business, shoplifting is reduced, employee actions can be monitored and the actions of customers in the store can be monitored and recorded. The monitoring and recording of the actions of the customers can and will successfully reduce the number of nuisance lawsuits.

CCTV installations help the store defend against nuisance lawsuits by recording the premises of the store in a continual manner. This surveillance and recording of the actions in and around the store is vital in defending against nuisance lawsuits.

All recorded video from a CCTV installation is marked with both the time of day and date. This time and date are inserted onto the video prior to recording and can not be removed from the video. Should a person claim that they "slipped on a wet floor, fell and injured their back" at a certain time, the CCTV installation can show that precise area at the precise date and time. This video is the first line of defense against the nuisance lawsuit.

Nuisance lawsuits also can arise from the interactions of the clerks in the store with the customer. An example of this is a female customer who claims that a male clerk made improper advances to her. Through the use of a CCTV system, the actions of both the clerk and the customer can be viewed. When the attorneys for the customer are presented with the evidence, the lawsuit in many cases will be dropped if the video shows no improper interaction between clerk and customer.

There are nuisance lawsuits that have been filed in the millions of dollar range. Most of the nuisance lawsuits that are filed are for considerably less. If the CCTV installation saved the company only $20,000 one time, the CCTV installation would have paid for itself. This return on investment when added to all of the other advantages of a CCTV installation make a CCTV installation highly attractive to any business.

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