People generally have a responsibility to behave in a manner that ensures their own safety. People should remain aware of their surroundings and seek to avoid conduct that could lead to injury or property damage expenses.
Occasionally, factors outside of people’s control lead to them getting hurt. For example, someone who is generally responsible and safe might suffer injuries at a business or while visiting someone else’s property. Those injuries could lead to a premises liability lawsuit against a property owner or business.
When is a property owner or a business responsible for the injuries incurred by visitors?
Negligence can lead to legal and financial responsibility
Sometimes, property owners or businesses have such unsafe facilities that the conditions technically violate the law. Legal action can be an option when an injured party can prove a statutory violation occurred. Much of the time, however, claims of premises liability begin not with illegal activity but rather negligence. Certain factors, such as dark stairways or poorly maintained floors, clearly contribute to the likelihood of visitors getting hurt.
If a reasonable person could see how property conditions contributed to someone’s injury, the injured party may have grounds for a negligence-based premises liability lawsuit. Slip-and-fall incidents involving understaffed retail shops or trip-and-falls that occur due to tears in hallway carpeting could lead to premises liability lawsuits because a reasonable person could see how those property issues could cause someone’s injuries.
Animal attack incidents, including scenarios in which someone’s pet bites a visitor to a home or business, could also lead to premises liability lawsuits. Even improper security practices at a business might lead to allegations against a landlord or property owner. If other people could reasonably predict an incident and might agree that there were steps that could have prevented it, then the property owner or business tenant occupying the space may be liable for the losses suffered by injured visitors.
Premises liability lawsuits can compensate people for property damage expenses, medical bills and lost wages caused by unsafe property conditions. Recognizing when a property owner might be liable can help people hold the right party accountable for recent injuries and expenses.