Premises liability is the responsibility of a property owner or occupier for torts that occur on the premises. While this sounds complicated, and in practice it often is, the concept itself is simple. It lies with understanding what a tort is. Torts are classified as civil wrongs, rather than criminal, which result in the harm of someone else. As torts relate to premises liability, they are most often due to the negligence of the property owner rather than an intention to harm someone else. Most simply, premises liability has to do with the responsibility of a property owner or tenant to ensure that their premises are safe for others.

Personal Injury Cases

Premises liability cases fall under the umbrella of personal injury cases, specifically, personal injury due to unsafe property conditions. This is a broad category, and encompasses a wide range of different scenarios, like:

• Deficient property maintenance
• Slip and fall
• Poor building security
• Swimming pool accidents
• Elevator accidents
• Snow and ice issues
• Dog bites

In all of these cases, the responsible party will be legally obligated to pay damages to the injured party if it can be shown that the property owner was negligent by having knowledge of the unsafe conditions and still deciding not to fix them.

Take this example: if a property owner kept a dangerous, aggressive dog on the premises, and it got out and injured an unsuspecting visitor on the property, the injured party has a good chance of getting compensation in a civil lawsuit. However, if the dog which attacked the visitor was a stray that was simply wandering on the grounds, the property owner can show that they are not reasonably at fault for the accident.

These cases can fall into grey areas and be much more complicated, like those involving building security duties of the property owner. Just how much security is it reasonable for them to legally provide? Alarms? Deadbolts? Security cameras? Guards? Proper lighting? As you can imagine, premises liability cases can be extremely complicated by these sorts of questions and concerns.

Personal Injury Attorney

At the offices of Richard Troutman, we have established ourselves as an elite personal injury firm in Central Florida. Since premises liability cases can be hard to pin down or categorize, Richard Troutman and associates can be vital to helping you establish a case if you think you’ve been injured on someone else’s property due to their negligence. Don’t be afraid to seek compensation for your harm – premises liability laws are in place to protect people from negligent, unsafe property owners and managers. Let us help you determine whether you have a strong case: call our offices today for a free initial consultation at 407-647-5002.