Have you or a loved one been injured in someone else’s home, business, or land? Let a premises liability lawyer evaluate your case to determine if you are eligible to sue the property owner for damages.
What Is Premises Liability?
Premises liability refers to a residential or commercial property owner’s responsibility for injuries caused by an unsafe condition resulting from their negligence. In other words, if you have been seriously injured on someone else’s property because their actions (or inactions) failed to ensure your safety, then you have the right to hold them accountable and receive compensation.
Examples of premises liability law cases include:
- Diving and swimming pool accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Accidents because of inadequate security measures
- Failure to maintain premises – property owners, landlords, condominium associations
- Dog bites
- Amusement Park accidents
- Toxic fumes or chemicals, and more.
The Burden Of Proof In a Premises Liability Case
Not all injuries caused by accidents on someone else’s property indicate that the owner was negligent. You (with the guidance of your premises liability attorney) bear the burden of proof in a premises liability lawsuit. You will need to prove:
- Who is liable for the premises liability injury, be it the property owner, landlord, manager, or shop owner.
- What duty of care the liable person owed you. There are different levels of duty depending on why you were on their property. Guests invited for business reasons (shoppers, restaurant patrons, and repairmen, for example) get the highest standard of care…often referred to Business Invitees. Next on the rung are social guests such as friends and family members. Bottom of the hierarchy of duty of care are trespassers who have no reason to be on the property.
- That the defendant should have known or did know about the hazardous condition on their property.
- Failure to protect you by repairing or warning of the danger.
- Your injury was directly related to the hazardous condition.
Obtaining and preparing all the proof required – from witnesses to evidence and an accurate estimate of your damages – is an arduous task. An established law firm like Sokoloff and Weinstein, P.A. has the resources to relieve you of this additional burden.
Compensation In a Premises Liability Lawsuit
You can file an insurance claim and/ora lawsuit against the person, company, or entity at fault for:
- Medical costs
- Future medical costs
- Pain and suffering
- Household expenses
- Lost income
- Future income loss
- Emotional distress
The insurers of the property will try their hardest to show that a high percentage of the fault of the accident was caused by you. That way, under Florida’s comparative negligence law, your compensation award will be reduced by that percentage.
Don’t be bullied by commercial corporations and property owners. Sokoloff and Weinstein, P.A. has 30 years of experience in personal injury law. Take advantage of our knowledge about navigating the Florida court system, our passion for righting wrongs, and our empathetic approach. Contact one of our premises liability lawyers as soon as possible after your accident to find out what your best course of action is.
What’s more, plaintiffs with attorney representation receive an average of 3.5 times higher settlements than those without and 85% of all insurance companies’ pay-outs for personal injury claims are paid to parties represented by a lawyer.