What is Premises Liability and How Can It Be Established?

Premises Liability is a commonly used term for the responsibility held by the property owner for any injuries or damage sustained by other people on their property. Establishing liability helps the courts ascertain who should compensate the injured party in case of an accident. Although, simply getting hurt on someone else’s property does not automatically establish premises liability. There are certain conditions stated in the Premises Liability Act which need to be met in order to establish premises liability.

As the core purpose of establishing premises liability is to seek damages to compensate for the injuries incurred by the person, time is of great importance. Therefore, most people tend to acquire the services of a personal injury lawyer in order to build a strong claim to get swift justice.

What conditions do you need to meet in order to establish Premises Liability?

In order to establish premises liability, you need to meet three basic conditions:

• The first prerequisite is the duty of care. Demonstrating and establishing that the property owner had the legal responsibility to ensure that their property is safe and does not cause harm or injury is the foremost element of any personal injury claim.
• Once you have established the legal duty, you need to prove the breach of duty by the defendant conclusively. The negligence for fulfilling the duty to ensure safety can be reflected through lack of preventative measures. Failure to maintain a safe environment can also be construed as a direct breach of duty. As most of these cases involve slip and fall incidents, lack of maintenance of floors and subpar flooring material is often used to establish a breach of duty.
• Lastly and most importantly, you need to connect the breach of duty to the injury incurred by you. It is extremely significant to prove that any injury or harm incurred by you was directly caused by the breach of duty. In most cases, it becomes quite difficult to connect the breach of duty with the injury or harm you have sustained as the defense lawyers try to suggest other reasons or factors for your injury. An experienced slip and fall lawyer might help you subvert the counter-arguments made by the defense and establish the connection between your injury and the breach of duty in a convincing manner.

To get further information on this topic or to schedule a free consultation, contact The Law Offices of Robert T. Edens, P.C. today at 847-395-2200 to speak with an experienced attorney.