Nightclub and Bar Security Failures in Georgia

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For a patron assaulted at a Georgia bar or nightclub, the date the cause of action arose decides which rules govern the claim. For a cause of action arising on or after April 21, 2025, the negligent security article displaces other negligent security remedies against owners and occupiers, subject to the exceptions it states (OCGA 51-3-53(a)), and it tells the trier of fact how to judge a venue’s security, how to treat the security firm it hired, and how to divide fault with the attacker. Earlier causes of action are governed by prior premises law, and a separate statute governs when serving alcohol creates liability.

The Line Drawn by the Effective Date

The 2025 act applies the negligent security article only to causes of action arising on or after its effective date, April 21, 2025, and leaves earlier causes of action to prior law (SB 68, Section 9(b); OCGA 51-3-57, history note). For an earlier cause of action, the Supreme Court of Georgia held in Georgia CVS Pharmacy, LLC v. Carmichael, 316 Ga. 718 (2023), that the totality of the circumstances informs whether a third person’s criminal act was reasonably foreseeable.

For example, imagine two identical assaults in the same club lot, one on March 1, 2025, and one on May 1, 2025. The first cause of action arose before April 21, 2025 and is governed by prior law; the second arose after that date and is governed by the negligent security article.

What an Invitee Must Prove

A claim against an owner or occupier, or a security contractor, for bodily injury or wrongful death caused by third persons’ wrongful conduct is a negligent security claim (OCGA 51-3-50(1)). An invitee must prove that the attack was reasonably foreseeable, either through a particularized warning of imminent wrongful conduct or through prior substantially similar conduct of which the owner had actual knowledge, whether on the premises, on adjoining property or within 500 yards, or by the same attacker under added knowledge conditions; that the injury was a foreseeable consequence; that the attacker exploited a specific, known physical condition of the premises creating a risk substantially greater than the general risk in the vicinity; that the owner failed to use ordinary care to remedy or mitigate that condition; and that the failure proximately caused the injury (OCGA 51-3-51). A particularized warning is information the owner actually knew and found credible, specific as to the attacker’s identity, the nature and dangerousness of the conduct, and its location, time, and circumstances (OCGA 51-3-50(3)). A licensee must show a particularized warning and a willful and wanton failure to exercise any care (OCGA 51-3-52).

Reasonable Security

The statute tells the trier of fact what to weigh. “No owner or occupier shall be required to exercise extraordinary care to keep persons on or around any premises safe from wrongful conduct by a third person, and no owner or occupier shall be required to assume the responsibilities and obligations of government for law enforcement and public safety” (OCGA 51-3-55(a)). In assessing breach, the trier of fact “shall consider the security measures employed by the owner or occupier at the time of the injury …, the need for additional or other security measures, the practicality of additional or other security measures, whether additional or other security measures would have prevented the injury, the respective responsibilities of owners or occupiers with respect to the premises and government with respect to law enforcement and public safety, and any other relevant circumstances” (OCGA 51-3-55(b)).

The Security Firm

A security contractor is any person that contracts with an owner or occupier to provide protective or security services on the premises (OCGA 51-3-50(6)). A contractor that undertakes to keep all or part of a venue safe from third persons’ wrongful conduct can be liable for negligent security only in the same manner and to the same extent as the owner or occupier, and in no event to a greater extent, and the owner’s own contract claims against the firm are preserved (OCGA 51-3-57(a), (c)).

When the guard is the one who injures a patron, other rules can control. In Jones v. Scarlett & Associates, Inc., No. A24A1022 (Ga. Ct. App. Oct. 28, 2024), a patron who punched a security guard in a restaurant parking lot was then shot by the guard. The Court of Appeals applied the mutual-combat doctrine, under which a participant in a fight is treated as having superior knowledge of the danger. Because the patron’s own decision to fight supplied that knowledge, the court held that the totality-of-the-circumstances foreseeability test, and with it the evidence of two earlier violent incidents at the property, did not change the result, and it affirmed judgment for the defense.

Where the Article Does Not Reach

No owner or occupier is liable for negligent security for an injury to a trespasser; for an injury to a person not upon the premises; for wrongful conduct that did not occur upon the premises in a place from which the owner could legally exclude the attacker; for wrongful conduct by a tenant or a tenant’s guest after the owner had begun eviction proceedings; or for an injury to a person who came to commit, or was committing, a felony or a misdemeanor under Chapter 8 of Title 16 (OCGA 51-3-54(1)-(5)).

Dividing Fault With the Attacker

If any defendant is found liable, the trier of fact must reasonably apportion fault to the owner or occupier, to the third person whose wrongful conduct caused the injury, and to anyone else who shares fault under OCGA 51-12-33 (OCGA 51-3-56(1)). If a jury fails to assign the attacker a reasonable degree of fault, the trial court must set aside the verdict and order a retrial of liability and damages, and an apportionment is presumed unreasonable, subject to rebuttal, if the attackers’ total share is less than the total share of the owners, security contractors, and others who did not engage in wrongful conduct (OCGA 51-3-56(3)). The test compares the third persons’ total to the total of everyone else, not to a fixed percentage.

The Lot and the Sidewalk

The 2025 negligent security article bars liability for an injury to a person not upon the premises; Martin shows how the line was drawn under the earlier law. In Martin v. Six Flags Over Georgia II, L.P., 301 Ga. 323 (2017), a patron was beaten at a bus stop about 200 feet from a park’s boundary by a group that had caused trouble inside the park, and the security officers who confronted members of the group had released them back into the park. The Supreme Court of Georgia wrote that Six Flags “did not exercise the level of control and dominion required to assume liability for the bus stop as part of the park’s ‘approaches,'” but that “the victim’s stepping over the property line does not and cannot insulate Six Flags from responsibility for an attack that began within its premises.” Martin was decided under prior law; the 2025 article bars negligent security liability for an injury to a person not upon the premises (OCGA 51-3-54(2)). Under prior law, the Supreme Court also wrote in Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins, 261 Ga. 491 (1991), that taking some security precautions does not make a landowner an insurer of safety. In Richardson v. Thunder, LLC, No. A26A1519 (Ga. Ct. App. Aug. 24, 2026), earlier fistfights and crowd-control calls at parties were held not substantially similar to a shooting, and a large party with alcohol was not enough alone.

Alcohol Service

A person who serves alcohol to someone of lawful drinking age is not liable for injury caused by that person’s intoxication, except where the server willfully, knowingly, and unlawfully serves an underage person, or knowingly serves a noticeably intoxicated person, knowing in either case that the person will soon be driving, and the service proximately causes the injury; the consumer cannot recover from the provider (OCGA 51-1-40(b)).

Frequently Asked Questions

Does calling 911 about a threat protect the bar?
Yes, as to a claim based on a particularized warning. An owner is not liable for negligent security based on a particularized warning of imminent wrongful conduct if it made any reasonable effort to give the information to law enforcement, and calling 911 or otherwise reporting it counts as a reasonable effort (OCGA 51-3-54(7)).

Can the jury hear what sentence the attacker received?
No. In apportioning fault, no party may offer evidence or argument to the jury about any sentence or punishment imposed or possible for the attacker, the financial resources of any party or nonparty, or the effect of apportionment on the award (OCGA 51-3-56(2)).

Does the article apply to an assault at a private house party?
No negligent security liability arises from an injury on premises used as a single-family residence (OCGA 51-3-54(6)).

Does the article displace every claim against a bar after an assault?
No. It does not limit a claim for breach of contract or any other claim, remedy, or cause of action not arising under Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Title 51 (OCGA 51-3-53(c)).

  • SB 68 (2025), as passed, Section 9(b); OCGA 51-3-57 (history note); Georgia CVS Pharmacy, LLC v. Carmichael, 316 Ga. 718 (2023)
  • OCGA 51-3-50(1), (3), (6); OCGA 51-3-51; OCGA 51-3-52; OCGA 51-3-53(a), (c); OCGA 51-3-54; OCGA 51-3-55; OCGA 51-3-56; OCGA 51-3-57(a), (c)
  • Jones v. Scarlett & Associates, Inc., No. A24A1022 (Ga. Ct. App. Oct. 28, 2024)
  • Martin v. Six Flags Over Georgia II, L.P., 301 Ga. 323 (2017); Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins, 261 Ga. 491 (1991); Richardson v. Thunder, LLC, No. A26A1519 (Ga. Ct. App. Aug. 24, 2026)
  • OCGA 51-1-40(b)

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about nightclub and bar security claims under Georgia law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Which law applies depends on the date the cause of action arose, what the venue knew, and the specific facts. A person injured at a bar or nightclub should consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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