The Complexities Surrounding Premises Liability and Personal Injuries

All of us at one time or another have had a small accident that we don’t think twice about. We may trip on a floorboard in friends’ living room and bang a knee on their coffee table, or twist an ankle falling into a pothole on our way into the drugstore. If the accident left you requiring medical attention then you may have been entitled to some compensation for the expense. Premises liability is a complex branch of personal injury lawsuits and is best handled with the help of a personal injury attorney.

What makes it so complex?

To start, you need to figure out who the at fault party is. If the injury was sustained in a private residence usually the owner of that residence is at fault. However, if it is a rented home or apartment, the question of who was ultimately responsible for the loose floorboard arises. Generally with rentals the owner or landlord is responsible for everything outside of the apartment, including the entryways and stairs. They may also be held responsible for the unmovable items inside the apartment such as fixtures and walls. The tenant is liable for accidents that involve her personal property inside the apartment, or a fixture if they knew it needed a repair and did not report it to the landlord.

The rules for businesses are similar with one exception. Liability is assigned based on where the accident occurred and what the lease states about that area. Some building leases may have clauses assigning parking lot liabilities to its renters.

The second complexity in premises liability is proving negligence. The plaintiff needs to show how a property defect was overlooked or ignored and caused their accident. There is a legal duty of any property owner and or its occupant to keep the premises safe. Visitors to the property also have a duty to conduct themselves appropriately.

Missouri Personal Injury

Your Missouri personal injury attorney will help you figure out the negligent act that caused your accident, and who was responsible for it.

Take a young Missouri woman who fractured her back outside of a strip mall. A leaky gutter created a patch of ice on a walkway that she slipped on. Would all of the shops in the strip mall be responsible for maintaining the gutters, or would the responsibility fall onto the owners of the building? The answer requires looking over all of the individual leases and then determining whether or not the buildings’ owner should have been aware that there was a problem. In this case, the legal duty fell upon the owners, and a judge awarded the plaintiff 3 million dollars.

Personal Injury Attorneys

An important first step in a personal injury lawsuit is notifying the defendant of the claim. As you can see, with premises liability, determining who to name in your lawsuit is a job in itself. The safest way to ensure that all the proper steps are taken, and the correct parties are served is to retain a personal injury attorney.

To speak with a St. Louis personal injury attorney, call the Zevan and Davidson Law Firm at (314) 588-7200. We can evaluate your personal injury claim for free and help you determine how to get the compensation you are entitled to.