Texas Premises Liability Attorneys

If unsafe conditions on someone else’s property caused you injury or harm, you may be able to file a premises liability lawsuit. A premises liability lawsuit is filed with the intent of holding a property owner responsible for injuries and damages caused by the property owner’s failure to maintain his property or failure to warn visitors of potential hazards.

Slip and fall accidents can occur in a variety of settings: indoors or outdoors, residential or commercial. A landlord of a residential property can be held liable for an injury sustained in a slip and fall just as a property or business owner could. A serious slip and fall accident commonly occur in the following locations:

• Amusement parks
• Apartment complexes or buildings
• Elevators
• Grocery stores
• Parking garages
• Parking lots
• Restaurants and bars
• Retail stores
• Shopping malls
• Sidewalks and other walkways
• Sports stadiums and arenas
• Stairways

In most situations, a property owner owes a general duty of care toward those injured on his property. How far this duty of care extends is dependent on the relationship between the property owner and the injured person. In most premises liability cases, plaintiffs will fall into one of three categories:

• Licensee: A licensee is a visitor whom the property owner permits expressly or implicitly to be on his property without a contractual relationship or trade of benefits. A houseguest is normally considered a licensee.
• Invitee: An invitee is an individual who visits a property for a reason that benefits both the visitor and the property owner. A common example of an invitee is a shopper visiting a grocery store. In this instance, the shopper benefits from getting groceries and the store benefits from the shopper spending their money. A residential example of an invitee would include a contractor hired by a homeowner to complete repairs on a property. While a transfer of money is common in invitee situations, it is not required.
• Trespasser: A trespasser is a visitor who comes onto a property without permission of the property owner.

After determining which category an injured falls into, a court will analyze what duty of care is owed by the property owner.  Generally, the duty of care will be as follows:

• Duty of Care Owed to Licensees: The property owner is usually only liable for willful or wanton injury to a licensee. This means the property owner must exercise enough care to prevent injury to a visitor who is known to be or could reasonably be expected to be within the range of a dangerous act or condition (i.e. warn the licensee of a known hazard). However, the property owner is not required to inspect the premises or to immediately fix dangerous conditions.
• Duty of Care Owed to Invitees: The property owner must exercise ordinary care to keep the premises safe. This includes protecting invitees from any dangerous conditions the owner knows about or should reasonably know about. The property owner must also inspect the property and must either fix or warn invitees about any dangerous conditions. An example of this is the “Caution: Wet Floor” signs that is commonly used in retail and grocery stores.
• Duty of Care Owed to Trespassers: Because there is now true relationship between a trespasser or property owner, the law is much more lenient when it comes to the duty of care owed by the property owner. The property owner is not required to fix any dangerous conditions nor must the property owner warn trespassers about potential hazards. However, a property owner can be held liable for creating dangerous conditions on his property or making dangers conditions worse in order to catch trespassers.

If you or a loved one were injured on someone’s property and believe your injury was the result of the property owner’s failure to provide reasonable protection, following these steps may help build your product liability case.

• Seek medical attention for your injuries
  
• Ensure that you or loved ones’ well being is taken care of before taking any other actions
  
• Report the incident to the owner or manager of the property
  
• Make sure to get a copy of the incident report
  
• Take pictures of the area where the accident happened
  
• Photos with a date and time are important, because evidence could be removed
  
• Get names and phone numbers of any people who witnessed the accident
  
• Witnesses will help prove your story in the future
  
• Call an experienced injury attorney

Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys has the experience and resources necessary to retrieve the compensation you deserve for your injuries

The law classifies a slip and fall injury, sometimes referred to as a trip and fall, as a tort. Simply put, if you slip and fall and are injured on someone else’s property, you have suffered a slip and fall injury. A slip and fall injury can result from falling on a wet floor in a grocery store to slipping and falling on ice in the front of someone’s residence. Slip and fall injuries are a leading cause of non-fatal injuries for Americans of all ages, with the potential of some severe injuries.