Premises Liability

 

Alitowski & Moore personal injury lawyers explain that premises liability laws are meant to fix the responsibility of the owner or the possessor of a premises where another person suffers a personal injury due to faulty premises. The most common types of premises liability cases include slip and fall accidents that occur at another’s land or premises. To establish the liability of the person who owns or is in possession of the premises, it is important to prove that the accident did not occur due to the victim’s fault, but due to a fault with the premises. However, it is not easy to determine that an accident occurred due to faulty premises, and several state laws tend to favor the premises owners. Victims should always seek legal aid from an experienced attorney to protect their rights in such a case. 

Lawful Possessor of Premises

In the context of the premises liability law, a person is said to possess a property, land, or premises when that person occupies the premises with intent to be in control of it. If the person has occupied the premises for a period of time with intent to be in control of it, and if no other individual has been in occupation of it subsequently with intent to control it, the person will be called a possessor of the premises. If a person is entitled to occupy the premises immediately, with no other individual in possession of the premises, the person is considered a lawful possessor of the premises under the law of premises liability. 

Possible Premise and Possessor Examples

For instance, if this person leaves a bunch of nails all over their floor and they invite you in and one of those nails goes through your foot, this possessor may be at fault for premises liability. This is where a qualified and knowledgable attorney should be consulted on your behalf since what happened cost you severe pain, financial losses, and perhaps affected your professional career. Or, if there are stairs that lead to the front door and the owner invites you up and into their home but those stairs fail while you are stepping up them causing you to fall backwards which is causes you to sustain a concussion and a broken rib, the possessor could be at fault here. This is when you need to make a call to a legal professional. 

Victim as an Invitee to the Premises

Personal injury attorney Andrew Alitowski states that “if the victim of personal injury had been invited to visit or stay on the premises for a purpose connected with commercial dealings with the possessor, or for a commercial gain to the possessor, the victim is termed as an invitee” - The invitation may be express or implied. For instance, customers visiting a store out of their own choice are considered invitees to the premises because the invitation is implied in this case.

Highest standards of duty of care apply to the premises owner with regard to invitees. If there is an unreasonable risk of harm at the premises, the possessor has a duty to warn, inform, or otherwise protect the invitees from such risks. This was sort of hinted at above in the nail example. If the owner does not inform you that there are nails on the ground or in that area, fault could lie on their shoulders. In some cases, it may be the possessor’s duty to conduct periodic inspections of the premises in order to safeguard invitees against unexpected risk. 

Victim as a Licensee

In context of the premises liability law, from a personal injury lawyer’s perspective, a licensee is an individual who has been invited to visit or stay on the premises for purposes other than commercial or business ones, with an explicit or implicit permission of the possessor of the premises. For instance, a social guest to the premises will be considered a licensee, and not an invitee. The possessor of the premises may be held liable for a personal injury caused to a licensee under certain conditions. 

If the possessor of the premises was aware or was expected to be aware of an unreasonable risk of physical harm to the licensee, and was also expected to know that the risk was not likely to be discovered by the licensee, the possessor may be held liable for personal injury. The second important element in this case is to show that the possessor did not exercise reasonable care to improve the conditions to make the premises safe for the licensee (like fixing or maintaining the front steps). Victims of personal injury who believe the accident may be the possessor’s fault should always speak with an experienced injury attorney for the best protection of their rights. 

Victim as a Trespasser

Any person who visits or stays at another’s premises without any explicit or implicit invitation from the possessor, and without any obligation or duty towards the possessor will be considered a trespasser under the premises liability law. If the possessor is unaware of the presence of the trespasser, the premises liability law does not apply to the possessor in such case. This is critically important because there have been extreme cases of a burglar suing the homeowner for premise liability of some sort. This infuriated many people. California is a state where something like this could more plausibly happen. However, if the possessor knows of the trespasser’s presence, it may be obligatory to take ordinary care with regard to the trespasser’s safety. 

Those wishing to contribute to this article may mail correspondence to our Louisville office location at:

Alitowski & Moore, 332 W. Broadway, Suite 613, Louisville, KY 40202.

502-582-9100