Premises liability lawsuits seem to be in the news more and more in the past few years. We often hear about someone slipping on a spill in a store or walking into a business on a wet and rainy day and slipping once inside. It is one of those situations that many don’t think will happen to them. However, injuries can happen not only in public, but they can also happen on private property or at someone’s home. It is something that can happen to anyone, anywhere.

Injuries on Private Property

The majority of premises liability lawsuits that we hear about tend to be those that happen in some sort of store or business or other public property. However, there are many situations and lawsuits that arise from injuries that occur on private property. Depending on the circumstances, there are three general situations in which a person is responsible for an injury on their property.

  • The property owner caused the dangerous situation that was the cause of the victim’s injury. This dangerous situation could be a spill left unclean, worn, torn, or faulty flooring that was known and not warned about or fixed, etc.
  • The property owner knew about the dangerous situation and did nothing to rectify the situation. This situation is generally referred to as negligence, which means that the property owner owed their victim a duty to keep them safe while they were on their property yet failed to do that.
  • The property owner should have known about the dangerous situation that caused the victim to be injured. In this situation, the courts generally apply the reasonable person standard. This basically means that if a “reasonable person” who was in the same situation would have known about the dangerous situation and rectified it to prevent an injury from occurring, then the property owner in the current case should have as well.

Common Dangerous Conditions on Private Properties

While premises liability cases can happen in pretty much any situation, there are a few dangerous conditions on a person’s property that seem to cause more accidents than others. Sometimes a simple part of a person’s home can turn into an extremely dangerous situation for someone.

  • Staircases: While a staircase in a house may not seem dangerous and accidents that occur on them may not always be the fault of a homeowner, there are times where it may be their responsibility. In situations where there is not a safe and sturdy handrail, there is missing or unsafe flooring that a person was not warned about, or where a door may lead to an unsafe stairwell that a person was unaware of, a homeowner may be liable for a victim’s injury.
  • Swimming Pools: A swimming pool should be a place for friends and family to have fun, but it is also something that could be very dangerous for the users. Depending on where the person lives, a homeowner may be required to take specific actions, such as putting up a fence around the pool, to protect guests and children from potentially hurting themselves.
  • Glass Doors: A glass door is a common part of many homes and may not seem like a risk at all. However, sometimes glass doors are in parts of the home that are unexpected and there is a chance in which a person may run into the glass and sustain an injury.

Have You Been Injured?

If you or someone you know was injured on another person’s property, you are not alone. While this may be a hard and trying time for you and your family, you do not have to do this by yourself. From our office in Brandon, we help clients in Tampa, New Tampa, Plant City, East Hillsborough County and throughout the state of Florida. Contact Reed & Reed for a free consultation.