Property and business owners have a multitude of responsibilities which boil down to the duty to maintain safe conditions for customers, employees, visitors, guests, and others who enter the property. Accidents and injuries which occur on someone else’s property fall under premises liability. If you believe that your accident was the result of someone else’s negligence, talk to one of our highly credentialed accident attorneys today.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents can result in severe injuries, and in some cases they are fatal. A fall on someone else’s property or in a place of business does not automatically mean that you have a claim. Examples of conditions which can lead to actionable slip and fall accidents include:
- Spills that are not cleaned up in a reasonable amount of time
- Slippery residues left on floors, including cleaning products and grease
- Debris and other messes in walkways
- Lack of warning signs for wet floors during cleaning
- Damaged flooring or stairs
- Slick flooring or walkway materials
- Loose carpeting or rugs
- Uneven floors or walkways
- Uneven stairs
- Missing or damages railing
- Step up or step down which is not marked
- Low obstacles
- Open drawers or cabinets, creating a tripping hazard
- Cords in walkways
- Inadequate lighting
- Filthy conditions leading to overgrowth of slick mold
- Cracked or damaged sidewalks
- Loose gravel
- Parking lot damage, such as potholes
- Malfunction of elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks
Swimming Pool and Other Attractive Nuisance Accidents
While there is generally little or no duty to protect trespassers from hazards on your property, child trespassers are a different story. In most states, property owners have a legal duty to protect children from attractive nuisances on their property.
An attractive nuisance is anything that might draw a curious child onto your property, and then cause harm to the child who is too young to understand the dangers of playing with or on it. This includes swimming pools, hot tubs, trampolines, jungle gyms, discarded appliances, and abandoned cars.
Negligent Security and Overzealous Security
Assaults and other criminal attacks are often the result of negligent security. The level of security that a property or business owner must provide depends on how likely it is that a crime will be committed on the property. Elements of foreseeability include:
- The type of business
- High crime area
- A property where other crimes have occurred
- Knowledge of a direct threat
On the other end of that spectrum, customers and others who are assaulted or unlawfully detained by overzealous security personnel may also have a premises liability claim.
To learn more about premises liability claims, or to find out if you have a case, contact one of our peer-reviewed accident attorneys today to schedule a free consultation.
