Premises liability is a legal theory related to personal injury law governing the responsibility of a property owner to protect the safety of those on his or her premises. Many personal injury cases revolve around the legal concept of “Neglect.”
(Learn more about the concept of Neglect in personal injury cases.)
Such is the case with premises liability cases. Plaintiffs in premises liability claims must often prove that the property owner neglected their responsibility to maintain the safety of the property, failing to maintain reasonable care in the property’s maintenance.
Simply being injured on someone’s property does not entitle you to personal injury damages. That is true even if the property was in demonstrably unsafe condition at the time of the injury. The reason is under premises liability law, it must be proven the property owner was fully aware (or should have been fully aware) of the property’s unsafe condition(s) and failed to take action to repair the property or make the property safe.
There are a wide variety of premises liability personal injury claims. They include: slip and fall cases, snow and ice accidents, defective property conditions, inadequate property maintenance; elevator or escalator accidents; animal attacks: fires; amusement park accidents; water leaks and flooding, toxic fumes and more.
Slip and falls are subjects of common premises liability claims. They often tend to be caused by a variety of conditions that include defective staircases, accumulation of ice or snow, wet or oily floors and broken sidewalks, steps or stairs.
Determining fault in these kinds of cases can be difficult. For example, if an individual walking along the walkway in front of a department store on Monday notices broken brick along the path but does not injure themselves, but then returns the following Saturday and finds even further damage to the sidewalk and subsequently trips and falls, hurting themselves, the case the landowner had more than enough opportunity to learn of the damage and repair the sidewalk but neglected to do so. That individual may have a solid premises liability claim.
If, however, an individual injured themselves walking along a remote pothole-filled section of the parking lot of the same department store, it’s not necessarily as clear that the landowner was even aware of the damaged section and had an opportunity to repair it. Liability in this case is unclear.
Add to that the complex responsibility of the land owners when the visitor is an invitee versus a licensee versus a trespasser, and it becomes clear that anyone who finds themselves injured as a result of possible premises liability should seek the counsel of an experienced attorney like those of Bizzieri Law Offices in Chicago. We understand the intricacies of the law and can navigate the road to proving fault.
If you’re looking for an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer to help navigate your personal injury claim, we will fight assiduously for your right to the compensation you deserve. Call Bizzieri Law Offices at 773.881.9000. The case evaluation is free, and we never charge a fee unless we recover damages for you.