Understanding Your Premises Liability Claim

If you’ve been injured on someone else’s property, you may be wondering whether you automatically have a claim for damages. In this video, we explain why that isn’t quite how the law works. We walk through what you actually need to prove in a premises liability case: that the property owner either knew about the dangerous condition that injured you, or should have known about it because it existed long enough to be addressed or resulted from their own actions.

We also touch on how the standard differs between businesses and residential homeowners, and reassure you that if your injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, you’re entitled to the same damages as any other personal injury claimant. Read the full transcript below, or reach out to our team to discuss your case.

Video Transcription
If you are injured on someone else's property, you may have a claim for damages. Many people think that you automatically have a claim: that if you're injured at a store or at someone's home, you're automatically entitled to damages. The law doesn't work that way, however.

Instead, what you need to prove is that the owner of the property either knew about a dangerous condition that injured you, or should have known about it. And when we say "should have known about it," what we mean is that it existed for a period of time and they failed to remedy it or to clean it up, or that it was the result of some action of theirs that they should have known was going to result in a dangerous condition—and that's what injured you.

So many times at a store, for example, someone will fall and get injured, and what we need to prove is that the store knew or should have known about that dangerous condition, and that's what injured our client. Same within a residential property.

Now, there are different standards — businesses are held to a higher standard than residential homeowners. But either way, if you are injured as a result of someone's negligence, you're entitled to the same damages as any other personal injury claimant.