Fort Worth Premise Liability Attorney
When you are on public property (perhaps shopping, eating, or visiting your doctor), and suffer an accident with injuries due to the negligence of the property owner, you may be wondering where to turn for help. Property owners are legally obligated to provide reasonable care and maintenance of their property to ensure it is safe from dangerous conditions. When a hazardous condition arises, the property owner must take care of the condition in a timely manner. At the very least, if there is a known hazard on the property, barriers and signs must be implemented to warn guests.
We expect that the grocery store where we shop will be safe, without dangerous hazards. Likewise, if we are staying at a hotel, we expect the parking lot to be well-lit and the rooms to be well-maintained with doors that lock properly. The list goes on, but the bottom line is that you should not have to worry about dangerous hazards when you step onto another’s property, whether public property or private property when you have an invitation.
Why Should You Choose a Fort Worth Premise Liability Attorney from Noteboom-The Law Firm?
An accident on the property of another person can leave you with serious injuries to deal with. Perhaps you are unable to return to work—for a few weeks, months, or even years. You may never be able to return to the work you once did or the life you once had following severe injuries from a premise liability accident. The attorneys at Noteboom—The Law Firm have been helping people just like you since 1982. We take catastrophic injury cases that many other firms refer out because of the time involved. We are fully prepared to dedicate the time and resources necessary to ensure you receive the best settlement possible after your accident.
While we are highly skilled negotiators, we prepare every case as though it were going to trial. We treat our clients with care and respect, ensuring they receive the best legal assistance following their accident.
What Is Premise Liability?
A premises liability accident occurs when you suffer an injury on someone else’s property. If the owner’s negligence caused your accident you may be able to file a claim for your injuries. Negligence means the owner failed to do what another reasonable person would have done given similar circumstances. As an example, if someone spills an oily substance in a grocery store and you immediately walk in and fall down, the store owner might not be liable for your injuries.
If they did not have sufficient time to clean up the spill—or perhaps didn’t even know there was a spill—they have limited liability. On the other hand, if there is a spill in the morning and many employees walk past it throughout the day but fail to take action to clean up the spill—or at least place a barrier and a sign—then the owner could be held liable. Owners are only liable for preventable accidents—hazards they knew about or reasonably should have known about yet took no action to prevent an accident.
What Types of Accidents Fall Under Premise Liability?
There are many different types of accidents that fall under premise liability. The most common type of premise liability claim is for slip and fall accidents. Slip and fall accidents can happen in retail stores, restaurants, nightclubs, parking lots, stairwells, escalators, and many other places. If the slip and fall is the result of a hazard that should reasonably have been taken care of, then the owner is liable for your injuries. If you fall in a narrow, poorly-lit staircase where a step is broken and the handrail is missing, you have a good case for a premise liability slip and fall. Other types of premise liability accidents include:
- Snow and ice accidents
- Accidents due to inadequate maintenance of the property
- Dog bites
- Inadequate building security leading to an assault with injury
- Swimming pool accidents
- Construction site accidents
- Accidents that occur at amusement parks or water parks
- Water leaks or flooding accidents
- Workplace accidents
- Toxic fumes or chemical injuries
What Are the Premise Liability Laws in Texas?
In the state of Texas, the plaintiff must show that the defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous or hazardous condition on the premises that caused the accident and subsequent injuries. It must then be shown that the condition posed an unreasonable risk of harm and that the defendant took no steps to reduce or eliminate the risk. Finally, did the owner’s failure to reduce or eliminate the risk result in injury to the plaintiff?
How Do You Prove Negligence in a Premise Liability Case?
There are four elements associated with proving premises liability claims:
1. You must be able to show that the property owner owed you a duty of care. That duty will depend on your status as a visitor as follows:
- You are an invitee—a business visitor who is on the property in response to an invitation or a customer who comes in response to a general invitation by a business—like a grocery store. Property owners have the highest level of duty of care to invitees.
- You are a licensee—someone who enters the owner’s property with permission, but for your own purposes (you drop by a friend’s house, or a city worker is digging a municipal water main on private property). The duty of care to licensees is to protect them against any danger the property owner is aware of.
- Trespassers are those who were not explicitly or implicitly invited to the property. Property owners may have some level of duty of care even for trespassers. A landowner is not allowed to use intentional harm (a dangerous “booby trap”) to keep a trespasser out, although may use “justifiable force,” like a barbed wire fence. Children represent a special case because a child may be unaware he or she is trespassing. If there is something known as an “attractive nuisance” on the property (like a swimming pool) that could cause harm or death to a child, the property owner must have it fenced so children cannot gain easy access.
2. Once the level of duty of care has been established, then it must be determined whether the owner breached that duty of care—i.e, there was a hazard on the property that could have foreseeably caused injury.
3. If the duty of care was breached, injuries must have resulted.
4. The injuries must result in financial costs to the injured person.
Getting the Help You Need from a Fort Worth Premise Liability Attorney at Noteboom—The Law Firm
If you were injured on another’s property in an accident that was foreseeable—therefore preventable—you can file a premise liability claim against the owner of the property. The legal team at Noteboom—The Law Firm can handle all the negotiations with the insurance company to secure a fair settlement that will fully cover all your injuries. Having a strong Fort Worth premise liability attorney from Noteboom—The Law Firm can allow you to take the time you need to heal from your injuries while we handle the legal end. We are experienced, compassionate, and highly skilled. Don’t wait—contact Noteboom—the Law Firm today.