Premises Liability Status Law Explained

You may or may not know that there are specific areas of the law that deal with premises liability. These can be quite complex depending upon the circumstances of an accident and as a result a team of Riverside accident lawyers will have attorneys who specialize in this very area. Although it is fair to say that relatively simple slip and fall cases are fairly easy to mediate, there are other cases when the law in some states very much favors that of the premises owner. For this reason it is very important to contact a skilled attorney.

So what defines a premises owner?

In essence a property owner doesn't necessarily have to own the land that the property was built on. For example, many large stores and retail outlets may personally own the building, but they may also rent the land that the property sits on. This doesn't mean that they aren't liable. On the contrary they are held accountable for any accidents to visitors to the said building. Premise liability law applies to businesses and homeowners alike and doesn't differentiate between the two.

Defining a premised liability case

A Riverside accident attorney explains that one of the first tasks for any attorney is to determine the status of the person making the claim. The reason for this is that the person or company responsible for the building where the accident occurred will find that they may have a differing duty of care towards the plaintiff depending upon their status. When we talk about the status of the plaintiff it pertains to them being either an 'invitee', 'licensee', or 'trespasser'.

Types of status and levels of care

Invitee

In essence an invitee is a person who has been asked or invited onto a premises either for commercial intent or as a visitor to someone on private property. An invitation may be either expressed or implied. For example, a large store openly invites customers onto their premises with the intent of making sales. The invite is not specifically given to the individual but the intent for invite is a given. It is fair to say that the premises owner has the highest level of care to invitees. Typically a premises owner has a duty of care to warn of any problems that may cause harm and should also be regularly (daily) inspecting their premises for any issues that might become a hazard to an invitee. If you have suffered an accident in a store through no fault of your own, then you might want to contact the services of skilled team of accident attorneys Riverside who specialize in premises liability accident law and can explain your rights.

Licensee

A licensee is a person or individual who has been invited to enter or remain on a property for any reason other than commercial intent. Or alternatively it could be for commercial reasons, but they have to have the express or implied permission of the property owner. Any person who has entered a property for social reasons is considered to be a licensee and not an invitee. The property owner does have a duty of care towards the licensee, however the plaintiff has to establish the following criteria:

1. The property owner should have known or indeed knew of the condition that caused harm to the plaintiff.
2. The property owner failed to make safe the problem or to warn the plaintiff of the impending danger
3. The plaintiff was unaware of the danger or had no reason to know of the danger that caused the accident.

If all these elements can be proven, then a plaintiff will have a case to answer.

Trespasser

It is fair to think that a property owner has no duty of care towards anyone trespassing on their property. However this would be wrong. In essence a trespasser is a person who gains access to a property (whether it be private or commercial) without the express or implied invite from the property owner. An important point to note here is that if the property owner is not aware that the trespasser is on their property then they have no duty of care towards that person. However if the person in question is known by the premises owner to be on the property then they could well be obligated to exercise some form of care with relation to the safety of the trespasser.

As you can see, there are some contentious laws when it comes to premises liability and one that a skilled Riverside accident lawyer will be able to navigate. If you have been injured through no fault of your own, then you may well have grounds for recourse. A skilled team of attorneys who understand the workings of premises liability law can assess the situation, explain your rights and upon instruction can file a claim.