Riverside Injury Attorneys Help Us Understand the Responsibilities of Premises Liability

There is a good reason as to why you see local Riverside County businesses taking great care of their property and their surroundings and that is because of the premises liability laws that California has. How many times have you seen yellow warning signs for slippery floors, or potholes in parking lots that have been filled in the very next day? These laws place a great deal of responsibility on property owners to maintain their property. When they don't and an accident occurs, this is when a skilled team of Riverside injury lawyers can help.

So what can property owners do to make sure that they are not facing a lawsuit?

When a property owner neglects their duties in keeping the property in good working order injuries can and do occur. These can often be debilitating and severe and could have been avoided. Simply by making routine inspections, carrying out simple repairs and putting up warning signs means that they might well have avoided being faced with litigation against them.

Due to the possibility of a wide range of unsafe conditions there are many different types of accident that can occur and here are just a few.

• Slip/trip and fall
• Construction site injuries from falling objects
• Dog Bites
• Unsafe store merchandise displays

One of the most important things to remember is that if you have been involved in an accident involving premises liability then it is imperative that you talk to a skilled Riverside injury lawyer who specializes in premises liability cases. The reason that speed is of the essence is because a property owner can easily make good the repair that caused your injury, before an attorney even gets chance to have a look.

Sometimes premises liability cases are straight forward like in the instance when a person is on a private property and trips over a paving slab that has cracked. This would result in a simple litigation claim against the property owner. However what if there were warning signs about telling people of the danger? In this case although the property owner has a level of care towards the people on his/her property, the injured party also has a duty to watch where they are walking and to adhere to any warning signs. In cases such as these there may be a 'comparative' fault claim filed. In essence comparative fault is when an injured party is partially to blame for their own injury and although they can still claim, if the case is successful then compensation would be awarded on a percentage basis. For example, if the plaintiff is deemed to be 30% responsible for their own injury then the compensation they would receive will be 70% of the total amount payable for this type of claim.

An injury attorney explains that when it comes to premises liability law there are three types of person and these are invitees, licensees and trespassers.

Invitee

An invitee enters premises with the consent of a property owner. This may mean a friend who is visiting the owner in their home or a store owner who opens his doors every morning for shoppers to come in. In this instance the property owner has a due level of care to make sure that the people in the property are kept safe

Licensee

A licensee is a person who enters the premises intending to conduct business or commercial reasons. A good example of a licensee is a door to door salesman. Under old tort law, just because you didn't invite them used to mean that you owed them a lesser level of care. However this has all changed in many states including California, the licensee is awarded the same duty of care as an invitee.

Trespasser

Finally a trespasser is a person who has not been invited onto the property. In this instance you owe them a lesser level of care than you would an invitee or a licensee, but that doesn't mean that you can set traps all over your property as you are still held responsible for acts that are classed as grossly negligent.

Children under 12

The exception to this rule comes with children under 12 years old. Even if a child is classed as a trespasser then you may be held responsible even though they might be trespassing, especially if a dangerous 'artificial condition' is present. A good example of this is a swimming pool. If a child was trespassing on your property and the child succumbed to an accident due to a swimming pool that did not contain safety features such as fencing or gates, then you may be held liable. However, if that same child was playing up a tree and they fell, then this is not classed as an 'artificial' danger and therefore you might not be liable for their injury.

As you can see, the law does take a strong stance against property or premises liability and if you have any questions or concerns about the levels of care you are expected to have, or alternatively if you have been involved in an accident involving a badly maintained premises and are not sure of the next step, then contact a firm of Riverside injury attorneys who will be more than happy to help.