Have You Been Hurt On Someone Else’s Property: Understanding Premises Liability 101

You’ve gone over to a neighbor’s house to chat and their dog attacked you, tearing tendons in your leg. You went to the grocery store and you slipped on a spill in Aisle 9 and broke your hip. You went to an amusement park and the ride broke, causing it to jump the tracks and you suffered a concussion.  What do all of these incidents have in common? All of them are situations where you trusted that the owner of a property would take reasonable care to ensure the safety of those who entered their property, and where they failed to do so. This is the basic principle behind understanding premises liability. If you have been hurt on someone else’s property and it is a result of them not acting with appropriate care, then they can be held responsible for the damages that you suffer as a result. If you believe that you may be entitled to file a premises liability lawsuit against a property owner and would like more information, contact the attorneys at Wallace Law today.

There are many different types of scenarios where a premises liability lawsuit may be appropriate. Examples include these situations where a person might suffer an injury:

  • Exposure to chemicals or toxic fumes
  • Fires
  • Swimming pool accidents in which the pool is open or unguarded
  • Elevator and escalator accidents
  • Defective conditions on the premises, such as a loose handrail, holes in the floor, loose carpet edges
  • Snow and ice accidents
  • Slip and fall accidents
  • Poor maintenance
  • Inadequate lighting
  • Inadequate security
  • Animal attacks
  • Amusement park accidents
  • Water leaks or flooding

Being injured on another person or organization’s property does not automatically mean that you are entitled to file a premises liability lawsuit. In order to be eligible to do so it must be shown that the property owner was negligent. Proving that a property was unsafe is not enough – it must be shown that the owner knew or should have known about the situation and either failed to take action or did so in a way that was inadequate.  Further, if you were not supposed to be on the property and are shown to have been trespassing, then you are not likely to be entitled to compensation, even if the premises owner is shown to have been negligent.

The responsibility that a property owner has to protect others from injury is known as a “duty of care”, and it refers to a need to take reasonable action that avoids injury to others. What that means will depend upon the specific circumstances in which you were injured. If you believe that your injury resulted from a lack of reasonable care on the part of a property owner and you would like one of our attorneys to provide you with their thoughts, call us to set up a free consultation. At Wallace Law, we are dedicated to protecting the rights of those who have been injured by the negligent acts of others.

Learn more about Premises Liability HERE.