When the topic of premise liability comes up, one can deduce that it has a lot to do with premises. However, the grounds for liability, the liable parties, and the claim for damages are not as straightforward as its name.
A premise liability lawyer’s job is to help their client obtain compensation for any injuries they have sustained. Such injuries stem from the negligence or recklessness of the landlords in maintaining the property.
However, merely tripping, slipping, falling, or sustaining an injury on the property of someone else does not make them automatically responsible. You must be able to prove that the occupant or owner of the property caused the injury. This might either be through something they did maliciously or something they negligently failed to do.
At least one of these factors must come into play for the owner of a property to be held liable. The owner or his employee knew about a situation that was potentially dangerous and made no effort to rectify it. The owner or his employee did not make adequate efforts to fix a hazard.
The owner or his employee ought to be aware of the potentially dangerous situation. This is because the hazard had been there long enough for any reasonable person who maintained the property to have discovered and fixed it.
As is common in many cases, slips and falls are caused by poor construction, shoddy materials, violations of building codes, or a failure to properly pack water or snow off paths of travel. These accidents can be really severe, causing the victims pain and taking them through life-altering situations. A premise liability attorney helps such clients seek compensation for injuries based on the severity of each one.
Damages Accruable in a Premise Liability Case
The total amount of compensation in a premise liability case is determined by several factors. Typically, this includes your temporary or permanent disability, pain, disfigurement, medical expenses, as well as the effect of the injury on the quality of your life. Your current and future loss of income will also be considered. There are also cases where punitive damages are awarded.
Filing a Claim for Premise Liability
Typically, every insurance company makes diligent efforts to avoid premise liability claims. Even when they offer a settlement, it is usually lower than the rightful compensation of the victim. However, things could change with negotiation. This is why you should consult a premise injury attorney. Having handled many such cases, a good premises injury attorney should be able to determine the rightful compensation and negotiate it.
Conclusively, a case of premise liability only goes as far as the attorneys can take it. There is so much one can achieve with the instrumentality of the law. It only has to be in the hands of those who can wield it right.