There are many people who get injured in accidents that take place on another person’s property. These accidents are usually called premises liability cases, and may involve many things. This includes slip and fall on wet floors and an animal attack. Premises liability law is quite complex, but you need to understand the basics of this specific area of law in case you or your loved one gets injured. If you sustain injuries on another person’s property, you can be eligible for compensation. 

And, if you own the property, then you are responsible for providing safe conditions so that no person gets injured while using your property.  In a typical premise liability case, you need to have a premises liability attorney so that they can help you get fair compensation. Your attorney can help you prove that your injuries were due to the property owner’s failure to have a reasonably safe condition on their property. Besides this, there are many other things you have to know about premise liability cases. This article discusses premises liability attorneys and what you need to know.  

Understanding premises liability

To properly understand premises liability law, it’s crucial to know what constitutes property. Legally, property refers to anything valuable and can be owned. This can include buildings, cars, land, and personal belongings. But when it comes to premises liability law, it focuses on buildings and land.

This means that the property owner has to make sure that the property is safe for their visitors. Besides making sure that the property is safe, the property owner needs to take the necessary steps to protect visitors. For example, a property owner can ensure that the property is safe by removing trip, and they can protect their visitors by keeping animals restrained. If a property owner fails to perform their duties to protect their visitors and keep the property safe and you get hurt as a result, the property owner can be liable for your injuries. 

You can recover damages in premises liability cases by proving that the property owner owed you duty of care. You should note that this duty of care can vary depending on the relationship between you and the property owner. For instance, the duty of care that is owed to a social guest on another person’s property tends to be different from the duty of care that is owed to an individual who is on another person’s property for business purposes. 

When you establish that the property owner owed you a duty of care, you should then prove that the owner breached this duty. You can do this by showing that the owner of the property should have known or knew about the hazard that caused your injuries, but failed to provide reasonable solutions to fix it.  

For instance, if the owner of the property knows that there is a missing tile in the floor and fails to make repairs or warn visitors, then they can be liable if you have a missing tile that causes you to fall and get hurt. If you can prove that the owner of the property breached their duty of care, you can receive compensation for any injuries you sustained as a result. 

Compensation in premises liability cases

It’s worth mentioning that there are various types of compensation in a premises liability case. But the specific types of compensation can depend on the circumstances of the case as well as the severity of your injuries.

One of the most common types of damages that you can get in a premises liability case is medical bills. If you sustain injuries in any premises liability accident, you can recover the cost of the medical bills you incurred. This includes past and future medical costs. To recover these damages, you need to have the right documentation of the medical bills like hospital records and doctor’s notes.  

There are several medical compensation you can recover. This includes doctor’s visits. Emergency room treatment, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, physical therapy, prescription medication, and medical devices like wheelchair or crutches. 

You can also be entitled to lost wages compensation. If your injuries lead you to miss work, you can recover lost wages. To recover these damages, you have to present the right documentation of your lost wages like tax records or pay stubs.

There is also a chance that you can recover future lost wages, especially if the injuries you sustained led you to miss work and may continue to miss going to work in the future. You can recover future lost wages by submitting the proper documentation from your doctor or any other medical professional showing that the injuries you have caused you to miss work and you may continue to do so. 

You can also recover a settlement for the pain and suffering that you experienced due to your injuries. You should note that this type of settlement is designed to reimburse you for the emotional and physical distress you may have suffered. You can recover these damages by also presenting the right documentation for your pain and suffering like doctor’s notes and medical records.

In some cases, you can also receive punitive damages. These damages are designed to punish the offender and discourage future misconduct. Quite often, they can be awarded in situations where the party at fault behaved outrageously. 

It’s worth mentioning that there are different types of visitors on another person’s property. This includes trespassers, invitees, and licensees. An invitee refers to an individual who is invited for business purposes like a customer at a store. And, a licensee is a person who is invited for personal purposes. On the other hand, a trespasser is an individual who enters the property without any permission.

The property owner usually owes the invitees the highest level of care. Therefore, they need to take reasonable steps to make sure that the property is safe for them. On the other hand, a property owner has a lower duty of care to the licensee. Therefore, a property owner doesn’t need to actively look for hazards on the property. With a trespasser, the property owner doesn’t need to take any steps to make sure that their property is safe. But they cannot deliberately set traps or injure the trespasser.