Premises Liability Lawyer
Houston Premises Liability Attorney
If you are injured due to a dangerous condition on someone’s property, a premise liability lawyer may be able to help you obtain compensation for your injury. At Simmons and Fletcher, P.C., our houston injury attorneys have handled hundreds of premises liability cases. Talk to a premise liability attorney about your case by calling 800-298-0111.
Overview of Premises Liability Law
What is premises liability?
Premises liability is the area of law dealing with liability for injuries that result due to some condition or use of the property. This can range from the grocery store slip and fall to unprotected swimming pools to dangerous conditions in amusement parks. The basics of this are that the person is injured on someone else’s property and that person was under some duty to prevent or reduce the risk of the injury from occurring. Premises liability law is very complex. It is very easy for an unwary victim to get re-victimized by an adjuster who takes advantage of their lack of knowledge. For this reason, it is very important that you speak to a Houston premises liability lawyer as soon as possible and not give any recorded statements.
If I am injured on someone’s property are they liable?
Just because you are injured on another person’s property does not mean they are automatically responsible for your injury. To recover, you must prove the property owner owed you a duty and failed to perform it. You should consult a premise liability lawyer to determine whether your case qualifies.
What must I prove to win a premise liability case?
As a general rule, to win a premises liability case, you must prove four things: 1) A duty owed, 2) breach of the duty; 3) proximate cause, and; 4) damages.
Duty
A property owner is not an insurer of the property. Whether the premises in question is a residential property, commercial property, or farm/recreational property all play into what laws apply and what duties are imposed upon the landowner. A possessor of land owes entirely different duties to someone who is invited to be there either by express invitation or implied and someone who is there without an invitation for his own business purposes. Additionally, in landlord/tenant situations, there are additional duties that arise under the lease agreement that may come into play. All of these issues need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Breach of Duty
Once a duty has been established, then you must show the property owner breached his duty. In a typical premises case, this means you must show that you must prove the property owner was aware of a dangerous condition or should have been aware of a dangerous condition and that he failed to either remedy the danger or adequately warn you against it.
An important note about this issue is that the evidence easily disappears. Often videos get “recycled” or the cause of the injury gets repaired and discarded. Thus, you should retain a good houston personal injury attorney to send a spoliation letter demanding that the evidence be preserved and turned over at an appropriate time. Delaying in calling an attorney can result in the permanent loss of critical evidence in these cases. Thus, if you have been injured and think you may have a premises liability case such as a slip and fall or trip and fall, call us immediately for a free consultation.
Proximate Cause
“Proximate cause” requires that you prove that the negligence which created the danger posed to you caused the injuries you have. In other words, you must show that you did not have knowledge of the danger and ignore the warning or risk yourself. You must also show that you were acting reasonably and not the sole proximate cause of your own injuries.
Damages
Damages from a slip-and-fall, trip-and-fall, or other premises liability case can vary from very slight to very serious. Some of the damages we have seen from premises liability cases are as follows:
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You Need a Premises Liability Lawyer On Your Side
If you have been injured upon someone’s property as a result of a dangerous condition left unresolved and not made obvious to you, you should consult an experienced premises liability lawyer. Our firm handles the following types of premises liability cases:
- Slip and falls
- Trip and falls
- Swimming pool accidents
- Elevator accidents
- Negligent security
- Construction site accidents
- Railing and balcony accidents
- Amusement park and carnival accidents
- Trampoline accidents
Call Simmons and Fletcher, P.C.’s premises liability attorneys for a free consultation about your premises liability case today.
Steps to Take After a Commercial Premises Liability Accident
If you are on commercial property such as a grocery store, gym, office, or any other place of business, they will likely have a process for documenting incidents. Contact a manager and file a report as soon as the accident occurs. The sooner a store gets notice of the incident, the more likely they are to preserve any video evidence.
If you are on the job when the injury occurs, you need to file a worker’s compensation Initial Report of Injury immediately. Failure to file one of these within 24-48 hours could result in your loss of the right to pursue compensation.
When it comes to commercial premises liability claims, the plaintiff must prove that there was a dangerous condition that the owner was aware of, or that there was a dangerous condition present for so long the owner should have seen it. This is a tough burden to prove. You need to keep your eyes and ears open for any evidence that the owners were aware of the condition. For example:
- Ask the manager if they knew it was there
- Look to see if there are any signs, mops, buckets, or anything around to indicate they were preparing to clean it
- Ask if there were any witnesses to the source of the dangerous condition (not just the fall)
- Look to see what the source of the condition was (leaky roof, dripping ice machine, etc)
What you observe may determine whether you have a case or not, so always be alert.
If you are physically able, take photographs of the condition that caused your fall. Even if a video exists and can be obtained, water on a white floor can often be very hard to see on a video. If you can take a photo that can show the condition and/or the source of the condition, this can be very beneficial to your case.
Falls on hard surfaces can result in broken bones, torn ligaments, ruptured tendons, and other serious injuries. The full extent of an injury may not be readily apparent at the time; which is why getting all injuries checked out by a trained emergency physician is the best thing to do. Insurance adjusters are looking for an excuse to deny your claim. Here are some of the medical care mistakes they commonly deduct from your offer for:
- Not going to a hospital from the scene
- Delays in seeking the initial medical care
- Delays in following up after the initial medical care
- Not following your doctor’s orders
- Missing scheduled appointments
- Gaps in your medical care
- Not filling prescriptions
- Seeking “alternative,” “holistic,” or “experimental” types of medical care
If you do not want to get treated unfairly, your best bet is to seek care promptly and follow the doctor’s orders.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Getting fair compensation means giving the jury a mental image of everything you went through. Photos in the emergency room can go a long way toward showing what you endured. In addition to that, documenting your injury shortly after the injury and throughout the healing process can help jurors understand what you went through. Try to take pictures to document any changes in the injury, treatment, and/or healing process to help tell your story.
Why Should I Hire a Premise Liability Lawyer?
The most important reason to hire a premises liability lawyer is that he knows how to take steps to secure critical evidence such as surveillance videos and eye-witness statements. Premise liability proof can disappear quickly leaving you with no case.
Some of the things Simmons and Fletcher, P.C.’s premises liability lawyers do in these matters are:
- Send spoliation letters to prevent the destruction of valuable video evidence in the landlord’s possession.
- Subpoena/obtain incident reports, investigative material, government reports, and other necessary documents.
- Photograph the scene to preserve the evidence before remedial measures (repairs) can be performed to hide the evidence.
- Interview eye-witnesses.
- Depose the landowner and/or his representatives and employees.
- Take negligent landowners to trial.
If you have been injured as the result of a property owner’s negligence, contact us today for committed representation in your premises liability case. We do not charge any payment of attorney’s fees unless we win a settlement or verdict for you.
We are located next to the Memorial City Mall in Houston, Texas. We handle serious injury cases across the State of Texas and are more than happy to work with you via, email, Skype, phone to make handling the case convenient for you. We also have investigators and lawyers who travel to investigate and explore cases where they happen. Contact us today for committed support in your premises liability case.
Frequently Asked Questions & Helpful Information:
For more information on premises liability law, please read about one of these frequently asked-about premises liability topics:
- Is the city liable for defects in city-owned sidewalks?
- The difficulty of the grocery store slip and fall case.
- The difficulty of the premises liability case in Texas hospitals and medical facilities.
- Are business owners liable for falls?
- Landowner liability for slip and falls on ice.
- What is the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine?
- Walmart slip and fall accidents.
- Lowes accidents
- Falls at Kroger
- Home Depot accidents
- Liability for bed bugs
A Client’s Review
Review: 5/5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ” This firm did an excellent job of representing our family. Not only are they very knowledgeable but are also very polite and always communicated through the whole process. A special thank you to Amanda for her helpful updates and hard work.” – Theresa R., an actual client.
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