If you’ve ever had an accident on someone else’s property, you might be looking at a case of premises liability. But most people don’t understand this legal concept, and it’s important to know your rights. You might need the services of a personal injury lawyer if you can prove that there was negligence. Let’s find out more about this!
What Is It?
Premises liability is a situation where the owner of a company was negligent with either maintenance or general ownership, and someone got injured in the process. Essentially, the owner failed to keep his building or estate in shape and someone else suffered for it. Many personal injury cases are also premises liability cases.
However, being injured on someone else’s property doesn’t automatically mean that the owner is at fault or that they were negligent. To win a premises liability case, the injured party has to prove negligence, meaning that the owner knew his land was unsafe from the beginning and refused to do anything about it. It’s not an easy task.
Kinds of Premises Liability Cases
There are several types of personal injury cases and many of them are known as premises liability cases. For example: slipping and falling, snow accidents, problems with maintenance in the building, faulty conditions in the building, lack of security which leads to injuries, problems with the elevator, etc.
Dog bites, all kinds of accidents, fires, water leaks, toxic fumes, and more are also considered premises liability cases. There are all kinds of scenarios that can lead to lawsuits, and some people don’t even know it, but they have to protect themselves.
Rules for Owners
To prevent such cases, property owners are required to maintain certain aspects of their estate, especially when other people visit the area often, but the law varies depending on the state.
Furthermore, the owner is responsible for certain situations depending on what kind of visitors they have on their property, and they don’t fall under the same umbrella.
Types of Visitors
- There are invitees, people specifically invited to the property by the owner. In this case, the owner is responsible for their safety.
- There are also licensees, meaning someone who has permission to be on the property, but they are not necessarily invited. One example is salespeople, who can come but are not always expected. In these cases, the owner has to inform them of anything dangerous on their property to avoid any problems.
- Finally, there are trespassers, meaning people who were not invited to the property. In this case, an owner doesn’t owe a trespasser anything except if it was a child. Therefore, their land should be maintained to normal standards, and hope for the best.
These kinds of cases are pretty complicated, and since they vary in every state, you have to contact premises liability lawyers from your local area to get a proper look at what’s happened. They will be able to inform you of anything going on and give you the best legal advice on the matter.
