Premises Liability
What is premises liability?
Premises liability is the responsibility a property owner has towards anyone on their property. Property owners (Residential, Commercial, or Municipal) are required to take reasonable care to protect visitors, residents and occupants from injuries on their property due to unsafe, dangerous, or hazardous conditions.
Inadequate maintenance
The law requires homeowners, residential property owners, commercial and business owners, and municipal owners, as well as their property managers to properly maintain their property in a safe and proper manner. These property owners and managers are negligent and financially liable for injuries where:
- They knew about the dangerous condition
- They should have known about the dangerous condition because it had been there for a long period of time
- They created or caused the condition
- They knew about it and negligently failed to fix or remove the condition
Common examples of Inadequate maintenance are:
- Bad flooring conditions such as broken or cracked pavement or potholes, uneven flooring, torn carpeting, broken tiles, defective sidewalks, driveways and curbs
- Wet or slippery floors
- Foreign objects that block or obstruct pathways
- Broken, defective or missing handrailings on steps and stairways (interior and outside)
- Broken and cracked steps and stairways
- Inadequate lighting
- Snow and ice patches on walkways, driveways, and stairways
- Defective or damaged wiring
- Defective or damaged gas lines
- Defective plumbing and water leaks
- Defective ceilings which break apart, fall and/or collapse
- Inadequate fire and smoke prevention and detection – lack of or non-functioning smoke detectors
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Lead poisoning
- Elevator defects/open shafts
Specific laws, rules, regulations, and building codes apply to premises cases. There are specific and strict time limitations within which claims and lawsuits must be filed. Often, the defective conditions are transient and require immediate investigation to secure vital evidence, photographs and witness statements. If you have been seriously injured in a premises accident do not delay – contact The Yankowitz Law Firm. Call us at 1-800-LAW-3333.
Inadequate security
Building owners (Residential, Commercial, and Municipal) have a responsibility to provide a reasonably secure environment for the residents, occupants, and visitors to their building. This same responsibility extends to schools, which are required to protect students, teachers, and visitors. If the owners and their management know of conditions or should have known of conditions which could result in your being assaulted and injured, they must provide adequate and proper security. Such circumstances of known or blatant criminal activity, broken door locks, open unrestricted building access, negligent or inadequate security personnel may be the basis of an inadequate security lawsuit. The risks of inadequate security include muggings, rape, and sexual assault.
If you were injured due to lack of security, call us at 1-800-LAW-3333.
Municipal liability – city, state, and federal
There are different government agencies that may be liable for maintaining the premises on which you were injured. Knowing how to handle these cases could mean the difference between getting the compensation you deserve and struggling to pay bills for an accident that you didn’t cause.
THE YANKOWITZ LAW FIRM has successfully represented clients in a variety of municipal liability cases. Don’t delay if you believe that a municipality did not live up to its duty of care.
Call us at 1-800-LAW-3333, speak to Jack Yankowitz directly. When you retain the Yankowtiz Law Firm, we represent you on a contingency fee basis i.e. our fee is earned and paid only from the money we recover for you.
