Whenever you step into someone else’s property, whether of a local business or a neighbor’s home, you generally trust that it will be a safe experience. However, this is not always true. Unexpected slippery floors or a broken handrail could cause you to fall and injure yourself. This is why premises liability laws exist to hold property owners accountable for not keeping their properties safe. If this happens to you, a Beaumont premises liability lawyer can help.
At Renick Law Firm, PLLC, we understand how the combination of the physical, emotional, and financial aftermath of premises liability cases can be enough to send you into a tailspin. Our objective is to minimize the impact these injuries have on your life. From day one, our team of attorneys will advocate for your rights and do everything in our power to show how a property owner’s negligence is linked to the injuries you sustained.
There are many different reasons why premises liability cases happen. It’s often when a property owner or manager fails to maintain a safe condition for their visitors. When this happens, it can lead to preventable injuries. Understanding the many different causes of these cases can help you recognize potential hazards and know what rights you have if you become injured. Some of the most common causes include:
Some of the most common causes for premises liability cases are slip and fall incidents. These often happen from wet floors, loose rugs, uneven surfaces, or even unnecessarily cluttered walkways. If someone owns a piece of property, it is up to them to regularly inspect the premises and maintain its condition to prevent slip and fall accidents. For example, simply putting up a wet floor sign could protect them from facing legal action if someone fell.
Any property that is poorly maintained can pose serious risk to visitors. Common issues in this category include a broken staircase, elevators that malfunction, faulty electrical wiring, or even damaged handrails that appear to be working at first. When these items are not maintained and break, it can cause injuries to visitors that otherwise would not have happened.
When an area lacks adequate security to keep the premises safe, it can become a hotspot for criminal activity. This could be due to inadequate lighting that makes it easier for someone to sneak in and steal something or from the absence of security personnel to keep an eye on an area during vulnerable times. Victims of crimes that happen on an unsafe property may have grounds for a premises liability claim if there is proof the property owner neglected security measures.
When a property owner allows pets on the premises, they are responsible for ensuring these animals do not pose any danger to anyone else who visits. This is because dog bites or other attacks can cause serious injuries and emotional trauma to those who are unfamiliar with the animal. Without providing a warning of a violent animal on the premises or locking it up when visitors are around, any injured party can seek the viability of a premises claim.
Scenarios like improperly secured shelves, construction equipment, or ceiling fixtures can all lead to falling object accidents. These are more common in environments like retail spaces, warehouses, and construction sites. Sometimes injuries are minor, like cuts and bruises. However, more serious injuries from falling objects have also been reported, like severe head trauma and fractures. This all will depend on the size and weight of the object and where it falls.
Premises liability is the legal responsibility of a property owner to maintain safe conditions on their property. This is to prevent anyone from becoming unnecessarily injured. This area of law was designed to hold property owners accountable for what happens on their property that can be tied to their own neglect. When someone is injured on someone’s property, it is up to them to prove that the property owner acted negligently and link their injuries to the incident.
To be successful in a premises liability case in Beaumont, there are three core elements that need to be proven. You need to show that the property owner owed you a duty of care, provide details of their breach of that duty, and link your injuries directly to that breach. For example, if you were to slip on a wet floor, showing that there were no warning signs posted through video surveillance footage can help to satisfy these three core elements.
Liability will traditionally fall on property owners in a premises liability case. However, it can also extend to property managers, tenants, and any business that is operating on the premises in question. For example, if you become injured while shopping in a grocery store, the individual who owns the store or a manager on the clock could also be held responsible for any unsafe conditions that led to your injury.
Victims of premises liability cases could be entitled to many different forms of compensation, like medical expenses, wages lost from being out of work, pain and suffering, or even future rehabilitation costs. All long-term damages can also be compensated, especially if you have an official long-term disability that will require continuous treatment well after your legal case closes. The exact compensation amount will depend on the severity of your injury and neglect.
If you have recently been injured on someone’s property and would like to learn more about what legal options you have, contact our premises lawyers today. We have spent years helping clients just like yourself in these scenarios and would be honored to extend our education and experience to help your case today.