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
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
Common types of situations that may give rise to premises liability claims include:
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Consider or discuss the following factors with your premises liability attorney when deciding whether to file a claim:
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.
You’ll need evidence to support your claim. Forms of evidence in a premises liability suit can include:
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:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Patino Injury and Accident Attorneys – Available 24/7
