Banning Premises Liability Lawyer
Whether you visit a grocery store, favorite retail store, or one of Banning’s legendary movie studios, you expect the premises to be safe. Property owners, managers, and landlords are expected to discover unsafe conditions and fix or warn visitors of them.
When you are injured on someone’s premises, owners may be liable to compensate you when they allow a known hazardous condition, should have been aware of it, or knew of it and failed to warn visitors. Contact a Banning premises liability lawyer to discuss your circumstances and whether they warrant compensation from the party responsible for your injuries. Our personal injury attorneys could help you file a claim.
Types of Premises Liability Claims
To succeed in an action for an injury on someone else’s property, the person must show the owner or manager acted irresponsibly when there was a duty to safeguard visitors, an accident resulted, and they were harmed in the accident. Some common property injuries include:
- Untended stairs, buckled carpeting, and poor lighting cause someone to trip and fall
- Visitors who slip on products spilled on grocery store floors
- Faulty plumbing or electrical problems
- Inadequate security in areas known for criminal activity, such as parking lots or bars
- Attractive nuisances that interest children, such as backyard swimming pools that are not gated and fenced
- Unleashed dangerous dogs roaming an owner’s property
Owners have different duties to different visitors. An experienced premises liability attorney in Banning could discuss whether a property owner might be liable for a person injured on the owner’s property.
Duty Owed to Different Types of Visitors
Visitors are divided into three categories: trespassers, licensees, and invitees. Property owners owe different duties of care depending on the type of visitor. Until 1970, landowners owed no duty to adult trespassers except not to harm them. Landowners did owe a duty to trespassing children under the attractive nuisance doctrine, which many states still maintain.
However, California did away with the attractive nuisance doctrine. Today, that duty is extended to the public, so circumstances could arise in which an adult trespasser might receive compensation when harmed. The property owner must demonstrate any exceptions to the duty to trespassers. Judges will consider all relevant factors and have a lot of discretion when ruling a case. A judge will consider current hazards on the property and how the property owner addressed those hazards, such as erecting fences or posting danger signs.
California property owners must regularly inspect their property to know what dangerous conditions exist. Talk to a knowledgeable premises liability lawyer in Banning to discuss duties to trespassers.
Invited Visitors
Social guests are called licensees. Owners must reasonably warn licensees about known dangers whether the owner created them or not. Warnings can be verbal, such as telling them to be careful on a loose step. or more complicated, like blocking an area with uneven ground.
Invitees are usually on the property to conduct business beneficial to the owner, such as shoppers visiting grocery or retail stores or restaurant diners. Owners must protect invitees against dangers they are aware of or should be aware are dangerous.
A premises liability lawsuit may depend on small details. For example, a grocery shopper who slips on a discarded, leaking ketchup packet after it has been on the floor for two hours has a better chance of prevailing in a lawsuit than if the packet lay on the floor for five minutes.
A Banning Premises Liability Attorney Fights for Justice
Property owners have a duty to keep their premises safe for all who visit. When they breach that duty and you are harmed, they may owe you compensation. Even if you are a trespasser, you may have some right to compensation.
A Banning premises liability lawyer believes in justice for those injured and that the negligent party should pay for the medical and emotional harm caused. Call today to learn how we can help you.