When Injuries Occur on Someone Else's Property
As a land owner or property owner, you have a legal obligation to maintain your grounds and keep it safe for people who visit your premises. A premises consists of land and buildings that together make up someone's "property." A premises can be a home, an apartment building, a commercial building, a grocery store, a school, a movie theatre or anywhere else that someone may have reason to visit.
Premises liability refers to the liability of the landowner for certain injuries that can occur on the owner's property. Such injuries can arise due to a variety of hazardous conditions such as open excavations, uneven pavement, torn carpeting, wet floors, holes in the ground, standing water, curbs ripped up from tree roots, icy walkways, falling objects, flying debris, inadequate security, weak stairs, defective chairs or broken benches. In short, premises liability law is the body of law which makes the land owner or the person in possession of the property responsible for certain injuries suffered by visitors to that premises.
In order for premises liability to apply, 1) the defendant must possess the land or the premises, 2) the property owner or possessor must owe the injured person a duty of care, and 3) the property owner or possessor must have somehow breached that duty of care. Whether or not the property owner or possessor owed a duty of care will depend upon the relationship between the injured person and the property owner or the possessor of the premises.
An invitee is a person who was invited to come on the premises in order to conduct business; for example, a customer at a restaurant or a shopper at a department store. Generally speaking, the owner of the premises owes the highest duty of care to invitees.
A licensee is someone who is on the premises due to non-commercial purposes and at the consent of the property owner or possessor. A licensee is commonly a social guest at someone's home and in many cases property owners and possessors have the same level of care towards licensees as they do invitees.
Property owners owe the lowest duty of care to trespassers and this is self-explanatory. However, if a child trespasses on someone's land, then the property owner has a higher duty of care to protect the child by warning, repairing, or otherwise protecting the child from harm since children are less capable of detecting dangers due to their youth and lack of life experience.
Generally when an employee is injured on a premises, his or her injuries will be covered by workers' compensation. Some common forms of premises liability accidents and claims include the following:
- Swimming Pool Accidents
- Slip & Fall Accidents
- Dog Bites and Attacks
- Amusement Park Accidents
- Hotel & Motel Drownings
- Escalator Accidents
- Assaults
- Injuries in Someone's Home
- Inadequate Security Accidents
Were you injured on someone else's property? To find out if you have grounds for a personal injury claim, contact a Los Angeles personal injury attorney from the Ghozland Law Firm right away by calling us to schedule your free case evaluation.
