Are Homeowners Responsible For Injuries That Occur On Their Properties?

December 14, 2012

Are homeowners responsible for injuries that occur on their properties?

When accidents occur on private, public or commercial property, the owners and occupants of that property can be held liable for any injuries that occur under certain circumstances. This type of responsibility is called premises liability.

How premises liability works

To be held liable for injuries that occur on their properties, owners must have known or should have known of a dangerous condition on their properties that caused the injuries. Property owners have to take reasonable care that their properties are safe for visitors who have a legal right to be on the property, like store customers or family and friends. If a property owner fails to take reasonable care to make his or her property safe, then he or she can be held liable for injuries caused by the hazardous conditions.

Definitions: Invitee, licensee and trespasser

Under the law, property owners can have three different types of visitors: invitees, licensees and trespassers. An invitee is someone who is invited onto a property, like a store customer. An invitee has the legal right to be on a property since he or she was invited by the property owner. A licensee is someone who enters a property at the consent of the owner. Licensees can be family members or friends of the owner or individuals who have the owner's consent to enter the property for their own purposes.

While both invitees and licensees have the legal right to enter a property, the third type of visitor, the trespasser, does not. A trespasser enters a property with no right to do so. In most of these cases, the owner does not have to take reasonable care to provide a safe area since the trespasser is entering without his or her knowledge.

However, there are two important exceptions to this immunity from liability. First, owners can be held liable for injuries to trespassers if the owner has knowledge that the property is likely to be trespassed and the property contains a hazard that the owner created. This is known legally as an artificial condition and owners have the responsibility to post warnings about these types of conditions.

Second, if an owner knows that children are likely to be on his or her property as trespassers, he or she has a duty to warn the children of hazards that are present on the property. Owners can be liable if these hazards injure children if the risk of injury is higher than the costs to fix or maintain the hazards.

Establishing comparative fault

In some cases, the injured party can play a role in his or her injury. In this case, he or she can still pursue damages from a property owner, but his or her award will be reduced in proportion to his or her contribution to the incident. For example, if an injured individual is found to 25 percent responsible for his or her injuries, then he or she will receive 75% of the award granted by the jury.

Special exceptions

Two exceptions exist under premises liability law. First, landlords are not generally responsible for injuries their tenants sustain from a defect on their properties. This is because tenants assume control of the property once it is leased. However, if a landlord knew of the defect before leasing the property to the tenant and the defect causes an injury, then the landlord could be held liable.

Secondly, in Florida, commercial property owners can be immune from liability for the injuries sustained by third parties involved in illegal acts on the property if the owners install security devices like surveillance cameras.

In many cases, property owners are responsible for the injuries that occur as a result of a hazard on their properties. If you or a loved one has been injured on someone's property, including slip and falls on wet walkways, contact an experienced personal injury attorney.

Article provided by Parvey & Frankel Attorneys, P.A.
Visit us at http://www.parveyfrankel.com