39.5 million Americans visit the doctor yearly after an accident on someone else’s property. Premises liability law outlines owners’ and occupiers’ responsibilities to prevent harm-causing conditions on their properties.
Injuries on private property are often due to negligent safety measures. Understanding premises liability can help victims of injuries receive the compensation they deserve.
Duty of Care
As a property owner, you must keep your premises in good condition. That means regularly checking the property for any dangerous conditions and fixing them as soon as possible, or if you cannot fix them immediately, then posting signs to warn others of them.
In a personal injury case tied to a premises liability claim, the injured party, in determining liability, must prove that the property owner failed to meet this duty of care and that their negligence led to their injuries. This is often done by collecting evidence, including pictures of the accident’s premises, medical documentation of the injuries, witness testimonies, and other necessary documentation.
The property owner’s duty of care varies according to the legal status of the injured person on their premises. The three categories are invitees, licensees, and trespassers.
Duty of Maintenance
For premises liability claims related to injuries on private property, the owner and occupier of the land must keep the property in good condition. This includes all areas of the land, including exterior walkways, driveways, sidewalks, and parking lots.
The law defines those invited onto the premises as “invitees.” These include anyone using the property for their purposes, such as tenants living in apartments, condominiums, or commercial spaces and patrons of retail stores, gas stations, banks, theatres, restaurants, and other places of business.
The law recognizes that preventing all accidents on private property is impossible. However, it does require that the landowner or occupier keep the area safe to the extent that any reasonable person would. If a victim can demonstrate that the defendant breached their duty of care, they may be entitled to compensation. This is why it is critical to understand negligence’s role in these cases.
Duty of Inspecting
The property owner’s statutory duty is to inspect their premises to identify and take care of any hazards that could injure anyone who visits the premises. This duty applies to persons deemed to be invitees of the property, such as customers at a store, and it also extends to certain types of trespassers.
When an unsafe condition exists and someone is injured, a legal claim is made against the property owner. It is critical that victims and their attorneys carefully evaluate the evidence available in these cases and compare it to state regulations and laws.
This may require thoroughly examining the incident site, CCTV or surveillance footage, HOA meeting minutes, job safety analyses, and other resources. Property owners are liable for hazards they knew or should have known about.
Duty of Repair
In premises liability cases, a landowner must have an obligation to inspect and make any necessary repairs to keep their property safe for visitors or occupants. This is called the duty of care, and it is one of the most basic tenets of a property owner’s legal responsibility to those who enter or lawfully remain on their property.
However, it can be complex to determine if a landowner breached their duty of care and caused an injury. Often, it takes the expertise of an experienced attorney specializing in these cases. Examples of unsafe conditions deemed a breach of the duty of care include dangerous stairs, elevators, walkways, building code violations, slippery floors from uncleaned spills or building maintenance, contaminated pool water, fire hazards, inadequate security, and more.
