Premises Liability Attorney
What is Premises Liability?
Premises Liability cases are any case where an individual is injured while on someone else’s property. It is a sub-category of personal injury law. Property owners have a non-delegable legal duty to keep their property safe and free of hazards for visitors. If they don’t, they can be held liable for injuries to another if the property owner failed to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. Ultimately, this applies whether the property is a small business, a commercial property like a mall, or a private residence. A premises liability attorney with experience knows how to naviagate the complicated web of issues that accompany these cases.
Of course, not all accidents on someone else’s property are due to negligence. In actuality, there are very specific elements an injured Plaintiff must show to prove a valid premises liability case.
How to Determine If You Have a Premises Liability Case
Analyze Your Facts Evidence Injuries
Every claim for premises liability requires four overall parts: Duty, Breach, Causation, & Damages.
Duty - Ownership and/or Control of the Property
First, the person or entity responsible for the accident must owe a legal “duty of care” to the visitor. In order for that duty to apply, that entity or individual has to own or control the property. For instance, a property management company at a hotel can be responsible for an accident just as much, if not more, than the hotel owner.
Property owners and managers owe two general duties to visitors:
- A duty to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition to protect the visitor from hazards that the property owner knew of, or should have discovered; and
- To warn of concealed dangers that were known or should have been identified, and which the visitor cannot be expected to discover.
The key is that the property owner must have “notice” of a danger on the land to be negligent for an accident. As you might expect, Florida law provides several ways to prove that a landowner had knowledge.
Duty - Status of the Injured Party
Each premises liability case rests on whether the injured person was lawfully on the property at the time of the injury. Florida divides visitors into three categories depending solely on why they are on the property:
Invitees:
An invitee enters another’s property in order to transact business in some way. They are expressly or implicitly invited on the property by the landowner. A typical situation would include a shopper visiting a store to buy a product or going to an office for a business meeting with a financial planner, for example. Invitees are owed the highest duty of care by a landowner which includes regularly inspecting the property for dangerous conditions, warning of those conditions, and fixing those conditions.
Licensees:
A licensee is someone who enters another’s property for their own benefit and without express invitation of the landowner. But, they have an implicit invitation under the circumstances. For example, someone who runs into a restaurant only to use the bathroom would be a licensee since they are not a paying customer. Social guests also fall under this classification. Licensees are owed the second highest duty of care. Essentially, landowners cannot intentionally expose licensees to known dangers. They are also responsible for any willful misconduct or gross negligence.
Trespassers:
Trespassers come onto someone else’s property purely for their own purpose and convenience. They have no express or implied invitation from the landowner. If a child were to jump the fence of his neighbor’s house to get an overthrown ball he would be trespassing. A person walking a public beach after dark when the beach is closed would also qualify. Trespassers are owed the least duty of care. A landowner simply has to avoid causing trespassers willful or wanton injury from open and obvious hazards.
The Remaining Elements
As you can see, identifying a legal duty is just the first step. The remaining elements involve breach of the duty, causation, and damages.
Breach of Duty
Second, negligence requires proof that the landowner breached the duty of care that it owed to the injured victim. There are many ways to demonstrate a breach. In some cases, a hazard like a spill was allowed to remain on the ground for far too long, or a staircase railing may have been loose for days or weeks without repair. These are just some examples but there are many, many others.
Causation
Third, a plaintiff must prove legal cause. Causation is a connection between the landowner’s negligence and the person’s accident. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that the landowner’s negligence does not have to be the only cause for the accident. Let’s say that a person falls down the stairs because a step was loose and wobbly. However, that person also had a medical condition which affected their balance. Both things may have contributed to the fall. Regardless, the landowner is still responsible because the wobbly step is a dangerous condition that played a role in the fall.
This part of the analysis is almost never straightforward for premises liability cases because of comparative negligence. Comparative negligence is the principle that an injured party was also at least partly responsible for their own accident and injuries. One example would be a person who falls from a spill on the floor but didn’t see it because they were texting on their phone while walking. In that case, the injured person’s compensation is reduced by their percentage of responsibility. These situations require close scrutiny and evaluation by an experienced premises liability attorney to make sure the case can still proceed.
Damages
Fourth, damages are physical injuries, time lost from work, and non-economic losses like mental anguish and pain and suffering from an accident. You must have both negligence and damages for every kind of premises liability case. Damages are classified into the following areas:
- Economic: Past medical bills from various ailments including broken bones, brain trauma, torn ligaments and similar types of injuries. It also includes future medical expenses, lost wages in the past and future, loss of ability to earn income, and property damage.
- Non-Economic: Pain and suffering, mental anguish, mental health disorders, loss of capacity for enjoyment of life, and decreases in ability to perform everyday living activities.
- Punitive: Monetary damages designed to punish the negligent party for conduct that is considered grossly negligent, reckless, or intentional.
Premises Liability Attorney Overview
If you suffered an injury but don’t have financial losses or medical bills, you may not have a viable case. Similarly, if the damages are too small, it is possible that a claim may not be financially feasible to pursue, even if negligence was the cause. It is best to speak with a premises liability attorney to find out if your circumstances qualify and to do so as soon as possible after any injury occurs.
Types of Premises Liability Cases We Handle
Hiring a Premises Liability Attorney & the Cost of Representation
Florida premises liability attorneys work exclusively on “contingency” retainer agreements. These representation agreements are standard in Florida. They enable injured victims to hire a personal injury attorney without paying up front for the lawyer’s time. In return, the personal injury attorney takes the case on the contingency that the law firm will be able to obtain compensation for the client at some undetermined future date. Consequently, the attorney will receive a fee for the work needed to obtain compensation but only if the case succeeds. If there is no recovery, the attorney will not get a fee.
Summary
While every case is different, generally all premises liability cases in Florida must to be filed within two (2) years of when the incident occurred after legal reforms were enacted in 2023. This is called the “Statute of Limitations” and is a hard deadline with virtually no exceptions. Otherwise, cases will be forever barred. Therefore, remember to call Santana Injury Law as soon as possible to preserve your rights to obtain compensation. We will give you the best chance to get the full and fair value for any injuries you’ve sustained. Call now for a free consultation with an experienced premises liability lawyer in Miami, FL.
Initial Steps
01
first Steps
Document the scene including taking photos and videos, and getting the names and numbers of witnesses. They may be critical later in your case.
02
build the Foundation
Document your injuries by seeking immediate medical care. This is critical after you have suffered an injury of any kind.
03
Follow the Plan
Your role is the most important as the case proceeds because YOU are in control of the outcome. Your job as client is to listen to the advice of your medical providers and your legal team.
Let's Discuss your case
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