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Premises Liability Accident Attorneys In McAllen

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McAllen Premises Liability Attorneys

Premises liability holds a property owner responsible when conditions on their property cause an injury or damage to another person or property. Texas law requires property owners to keep their premises reasonably safe for visitors.

If an escalator at La Plaza Mall in McAllen, Texas, malfunctions, for example, changing speed or direction without warning due to improper maintenance or defective parts, you can fall, get trampled on, or crushed. Such an unfortunate accident can cause broken bones, head injuries, disfigurement, and permanent disabilities. Read More

Table of Contents

Get A Top Premises Liability Attorney To Handle Your Case Now

Invitees

An invitee is invited or allowed onto a person or entity’s property by the owner — or with the owner’s knowledge — for a fundamental or financial benefit. For example, when you go to a movie theater, your ticket establishes your status as an invitee onto the business’s premises. Other invitees include grocery store employees or someone entering a bank to make a deposit. In such instances, the property owner owes a duty to the public to maintain reasonably safe premises.

The law varies by state, but most state laws, including Texas, require property owners to extend the following duties to invitees:

  • The duty to repair and correct known (i.e., actual knowledge) hazards and to reasonably inspect the premises to discover and correct potential (i.e., constructive knowledge) hazards.
  • If the defendant could have discovered the conditions by conducting a reasonable inspection, they have constructive knowledge. For example, if a grocery store leaves a spill unattended for one hour and a shopper slips and falls, one can argue that the grocery store had constructive knowledge of the spill because it was easily discoverable if an employee regularly scanned the aisles for safety purposes.
  • The duty to ensure conditions do not impose an unreasonable risk of harm.
  • Unreasonable risk of harm exists where “there is a sufficient probability of a harmful event occurring that a reasonably prudent person would have foreseen it or some similar event as likely to happen.”
  • The duty to warn or make conditions safe for all invitees. For example, if a bakery puts up a bright-yellow “Caution — Wet Floor” sign near a coffee spill, the bakery met this duty of care to its invitees.

Licensees

A licensee is someone a property owner invites onto their property despite not being open to the general public. If you invite your friend to your house for a social gathering, your friend is a licensee.

A licensee can also be a “bare licensee,” meaning they enter the property not by direct invitation but without objection. Examples of bare licensees are door-to-door salespeople and mail delivery people who drop off packages at your door. Property owners owe a lower level of care to licensees, especially bare licensees, than to invitees.

Licensees assume care for ordinary risks to the premises’ current condition. In other words, property owners only have to take reasonable care to protect licensees from extraordinary risks, hidden perils, and reckless misconduct from which the licensee cannot protect themselves.

With licensees, a reasonable care standard for the safety of visitors applies.

Determining the standard of reasonableness owed by the property owner to the licensee depends on an examination of factors, including:

  • The circumstances or conditions of the property upon arrival
  • The use or purposes of the property
  • Knowledge or likelihood of (i.e., foreseeability) the accident or injury happening
  • Reasonableness of the property owner’s actions to rectify the hazard or warn visitors that it exists.

Unlike the duty allotted to invitees, though, property owners do not have to inspect the premises and eradicate ordinary hazards. However, they must have a reasonable knowledge of the danger likely to cause injury.

An injured party can demonstrate a property owner’s knowledge in the following ways:

  • Proof that the property owner saw the condition with their own eyes.
  • Proof of prior incidents concerning the same unsafe condition.
  • Proof that the property owner attempted to remedy the unsafe condition but failed to do so completely.

Trespassers

A trespasser enters an owner’s property without explicit, implicit, or legal permission to do so. Property owners’ duty of care is much lower for trespassers. Landowners are not legally responsible for protecting people who enter their property without permission because they don’t expect anyone to need protection. But property owners also cannot willfully injure trespassers.

Additionally, if a property owner is aware of a potential for trespassers, they cannot intentionally cause injury to non-visitors by way of unsafe conditions or gross negligence. The law defines gross negligence as an act or failure to act that constitutes a high degree of indifference to risk or human safety.

Trespassers might be awarded compensation for their injuries, with the assistance of an expert premises liability lawyer, if:

  • The owner created or maintained an unsafe condition.
  • The condition was likely to cause serious injury or death.
  • The owner was aware the condition was undiscoverable by trespassers before being injured by it.
  • The owner did not use reasonable care to warn trespassers of the existing risk or condition.

Different rules, standards, and levels of care apply to child trespassers. An attractive nuisance is an artificial condition (for example, a swimming pool) on a property owner’s land that they know or should know is likely to attract a wandering child. The property owner can be liable for the child’s resulting injuries if the claimant can show that a reasonable person could assume a child is likely to be lured to the dangerous condition.

Type of McAllen Premises Liability Claims

Common types of situations that may give rise to premises liability claims include:

Animal Bites

When bites happen on an owner’s property, where the animal resides, the owner might still be liable for resulting injuries. Texas is the second-highest state for dog attacks against postal workers, totaling 491 in one recent year. Of these nearly 500 attacks, just over a quarter of them (127) happened in the Rio Grande Valley District. Read More

Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents that may require a premises liability attorney to help get compensation comprise a broad range of claims and legal theories used to establish fault.

For example, a social guest visiting a friend’s home as a licensee may slip and fall on a sheet of ice when approaching the friend’s door. Read More

Elevator and Escalator Accidents

Numerous laws regulate the routine inspection and maintenance of elevators. When an elevator accident occurs, the property owner can be liable for injuries sustained. Injured parties can potentially sue the property owner, inspectors, and even manufacturers in a resulting premises liability lawsuit filed by a premises liability attorney to recover compensation for their injuries. Read More

Fire, Safety, and Building Code Violations

Fires can cause serious and fatal injuries. A premise liability lawyer can help you interpret fire code laws to determine possible violations and liability.

Lead paint, mercury, and other toxic housing and building materials can also cause severe injuries and death. Structures built in the 1970s often contain asbestos. If the property owner fails to properly evaluate and inspect the property to ensure harmful substances are not present, an injured party can potentially hold them liable for resulting injuries.

Ceiling, Stair, or Porch Collapses

Ceiling, stair, or porch collapses can cause serious and even deadly injuries. You might be a worker (e.g., a painter or construction worker), a visitor, or even a trespasser on the premises when a collapse happens.

Regardless of your status, the property owner can be liable for your injuries, especially if found to be negligent.

Hire One Of The Best Premises Liability Attorneys In McAllen. Call Now.

Find Your McAllen Law Firm

Patino Injury and Accident Attorneys – Available 24/7

Phone

956-631-3535

Address

1802 N 10th St McAllen, TX 78501

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Factors to Consider before Filing a Premises Liability Claim

Consider or discuss the following factors with your premises liability attorney when deciding whether to file a claim:

Statute of Limitations

Remember your state’s statute of limitations (or the statute of limitations in the state where your injury happened) because this timeline will determine how long you have to file a claim. After this time transpires, you forfeit your compensation claim.

Texas statutes impose a two-year deadline for filing a claim. This time begins the date the incident occurs or from the date when you reasonably discovered or should have discovered your injuries.

Necessary Evidence

You’ll need evidence to support your claim. Forms of evidence in a premises liability suit can include:

  • Proof that the owner created the condition
  • Proof that the owner knew of and chose to ignore the condition
  • Patterns of similar practices by the owner
  • Proof that the condition existed long enough for the owner to take corrective measures.

Proving Inadequate Security Measures

Premises liability laws also cover cases concerning a landowner’s promise to make their land safe and failing to do so. The two most common premises liability claims relating to inadequate security measures occur:

  • At business sites where security guards were not present
  • At home or apartment complexes where alarm systems, security cameras, and locks were faulty.

For instance, if a business fails to provide security in its shopping areas and its inadequate measures fail to prevent an invitee injury, the injured party can potentially sue the company with their premises liability lawyer.

Similarly, a resident at an apartment complex might sign a lease because of the strong security measures promised, but later, someone breaks into their apartment due to a non-secure or badly functioning lock. As a result of sustained damages, the resident likely has a premises liability case.

How Much Compensation Can I Recover from a McAllen Premises Liability Claim?

It’s difficult to provide a definitive recovery expectation for a premises liability claim. Countless factors can affect the outcome of your case. For instance, if two claimants suffer from the same slip and fall accident caused by a grocery store’s negligence, but one claimant is young and healthy and the other is a senior, the latter is likely to suffer more significant injuries. So the senior may have higher medical bills, take longer to recover, and suffer a greater impact on their daily living, all of which might mean their premises liability lawyer can get them a bigger settlement.

Other important factors that can influence the recovery amount include:

  • The claimant’s ability to earn future wages after an injury
  • Whether dependents previously relied on the claimant and no longer can due to disfigurement or permanent injury
  • Gender affecting recovery times following an injury
  • Whether the parties and insurers settle the case or if a jury decides the case at trial (e.g., a jury can award economic, non-economic, and punitive damages).

Speaking with a McAllen Premises Liability Attorney to Determine if You Have a Claim

Patino Law Firm’s highly experienced premises liability lawyers can assess your claim to decide if you have a viable premises liability case. Circumstances that determine your case’s potential success include the legal standard that applies and whether necessary facts and evidence exist to support the applicable legal standard.

slip warning

The plaintiff’s burden is high, but a premises liability attorney like our attorneys at Patino Law Firm can help you establish a causal link between the defendant’s actions and your resulting injuries. Courts often adopt a strong public policy argument in favor of protecting businesses, but our law firm can help you build a solid case to prove you deserve compensation for your injuries.

Using our expert knowledge and experience is the best way to navigate this challenging process and get the justice and compensation you deserve.

Contact us online now or dial 855-LAW-NINJA for a free consultation to determine if you have a viable premises liability claim in McAllen or the surrounding Rio Grande Valley. Our expert premises liability attorneys are ready to discuss your case.

Do You Need a McAllen Premises Liability Lawyer?

With the assistance of a McAllen Premises Liability lawyer from Patino Law Firm, you might be able to get financial compensation.

Contact us now to discuss your situation with us and find out how we can fight for you.

You can reach us 24/7.

Call Right Now

Find Your McAllen Law Firm

Patino Injury and Accident Attorneys – Available 24/7

Phone

956-631-3535

Address

1802 N 10th St McAllen, TX 78501

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