Thursday, July 30, 2009

CCTV Installations And Lawsuits, Who Wins?

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.

A CCTV installation in the place of business will provide a measure of security for the business in the defense against nuisance lawsuits. The video of the store and the recording of the video is the first line of defense against the nuisance lawsuit that claims actions purportedly occurred in the store.

Any video tape recorder or Digital Video Recorder that records images from CCTV cameras inserts a time/date stamp onto the recording. This time/date stamp provides the evidence necessary to prove that the person filing the nuisance lawsuit was either not at the store or was not injured at the store. This time/date stamp which was created at the time of the recording can not be altered or erased and is a definitive marker of the video.

Some nuisance lawsuits are filed against a store due to the purported negligence, inattention or rudeness of a clerk. The CCTV installation can show how the clerk approached and dealt with the customer. Often the video footage when presented to the plaintiff's attorney will result in the matter being dropped. The video evidence can not be denied or invalidated.

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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