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Home » Consumer Information » Personal Injury » Proof of Liability

Premises Liability Law

If someone is injured, there is a possibility that the victim is eligible to receive compensation for damages from the property owner or overseer of the land or facility that the injury took place. Common examples of premises liability include:

  • Slip and fall (e.g., grocery store ignores water from leaky roof and customer falls on puddle)
  • Subpar maintenance (e.g., property owner fails to throw salt on icy sidewalk, causing someone to slip on the concrete)
  • Flawed environment (e.g., retail storeowner does not give advance notice of broken step in stairwell and customer trips and falls)
  • Poor security (e.g., parking garage has dim lighting and chooses not to warn visitors of high crime rate in area)

Premises Liability Law

The court system will hold a property owner accountable for someone's injury under premises liability law if:

  1. The property owner owes the victim a duty of care.
  2. The property owner violates that duty of care.

Whether the property owner owes the victim a duty of care, and the extent to which that care is owed, is determined by the relationship between the property owner and the victim. The ranks of relationship are outlined by the following:

Invitee

An invitee is someone who has been invited to the property to participate in commercial activity. For instance, a shopper is an invitee of a mall because mall management promotes the purchase of merchandise on the premises. Usually, invitees are granted the utmost duty of care. Many states require property owners or overseers to conduct inspections to identify safety hazards and to immediately fix and inform invitees of the situation.

Licensee

A licensee is someone who is on the premises for purposes other than conducting business (e.g., guest at someone's house). A number of states demand that licensees be given the same duty of care as invitees.

Trespasser

Landowners owe the least duty of care to trespassers. Usually, property owners have no responsibility to warn trespassers of general hazards found on the premises (e.g., quicksand). On the other hand, if the overseer is aware of the trespasser's presence, then they become accountable for warning the trespasser of unsafe man-made conditions like an electric fence that could potentially shock someone to death if they come in contact with it.

If a child trespasses, the property owner possesses a greater duty to warn and safeguard the premises because children are not as keen as adults when it comes to detecting danger due to their youthful naivety.

If you have been involved in a premises liability case and are unsure of your rights as a claimant, do not hesitate to contact a Florida accident lawyer today.

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