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Proving Negligence in Premises Liability Cases
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What is premises liability?
Premises liability is a legal term used to describe a type of personal injury that occurs on another person’s property. Business owners, homeowners, and other property owners owe visitors a “duty of care” to resolve any hazards or unsafe conditions that could cause them to get hurt. These hazards could include a wet floor without a caution sign, a path with broken construction, a large falling object, an aggressive dog, a toxic chemical, and many other threats.
If a guest was injured because of a preventable hazard that the property owner failed to address, then the owner would be responsible for the visitor’s medical bills, lost wages, and any other damages that would apply in that scenario.
How do I prove that I got hurt on someone else’s property?
In a premises liability case, you would need to demonstrate that the property owner owed you a duty of care to keep you safe during your visit and, through negligence, failed to uphold that duty. A premises liability attorney can help you win your case by proving that:
- The premises where the accident happened was dangerous.
- The property owner(s) negligently cared for the premises.
- You were injured on-site because of that negligence.
Unlike other personal injury cases, there are a few additional laws that may affect how premises liability cases are determined. Depending on which state you live in, the duty of care visitors are given will either follow an all-encompassing “reasonable care” standard, or it will vary on a status-based approach.
Reasonable care standard
States that use the reasonable care standard rely on negligence to determine who’s at fault. As a host, the property owner owes visitors a duty to exercise reasonable care when maintaining the property. A landowner can breach that duty of care in several ways: failing to warn guests about safety hazards, failing to repair broken or dangerous obstacles, failing to follow building safety codes, and in other manners.
Most states that use the reasonable care standard exclude trespassers from obtaining the same duty of care that other visitors would receive, making them unable to sue in most cases. However, property owners are responsible for any damages they intentionally cause to guests, even unwanted trespassers.
States that use the reasonable care standard
- Alaska*
- California*
- Washington, D.C.
- Hawaii*
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana*
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Montana*
- Nebraska
- Nevada**
- New Hampshire*
- New Mexico
- New York*
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
*Trespassers are NOT excluded in from the duty of care standard in these states.
**Only “flagrant trespassers,” which are trespassers with harmful or criminal intentions, are excluded from the duty of care standard in Nevada.
Status-based approach to premises liability cases
States using the status-based approach place visitors into one of three categories:
Invitees
This group is invited to visit by the property owner for business purposes. This includes retail stores, restaurants, bars, office buildings, service establishments, and any other property where visitors can buy a good or service.
Invitees are given the highest duty of care standard. Commercial businesses must conduct safety inspections for the entire property and exercise reasonable care.
Licensees
This group has the owner’s permission to visit the premises for social or utility purposes. Property owners should warn visitors of any hazards they may come across during the duration of their stay. Licensees can be friends coming over to visit, guests arriving for an event, maintenance workers showing up for regular repairs, or anyone else who enters without making a business transaction.
Licensees receive a moderate duty of care standard. In these cases, the property where the accident occurred is usually a private home and does not require safety inspections, but property owners must still exercise reasonable care.
Adult trespassers
Though property owners have no duty to make the premises safe for unwanted trespassers, they can’t intentionally create dangerous conditions that would keep them away. Owners must warn all visitors of any significantly dangerous obstacles.
Trespassers are owed a very small duty of care standard. But, if the establishment was clearly negligent and failed to warn intruders about any dangerous conditions, even trespassers can be owed a slight duty of care.
EXCEPTION: child trespassers
Some children don’t have the full cognitive capacity to recognize the consequences of trespassing— or sometimes, that they’re even trespassing at all. To account for this, minors who sneak onto private property are usually offered an exception called the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine. This law requires landowners to limit accessibility to any property that may intrigue a child, such as a swimming pool, a trampoline, a construction site, or a playground.
The Attractive Nuisance Doctrine has been made into law in most states, but it’s not recognized in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
States that use the reasonable care standard
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maryland*
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Jersey
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
*Maryland includes an extra category that falls between Invitee and Licensee called “Licensee by invitation.” This licensee is considered a “social guest.” Utility workers, maids, yard workers, and others who are granted implied permission to visit are called “Bare Licensees.”
File a personal injury claim
If you or a close family member were injured on someone else’s property because of a hazard, see if you qualify for a free consultation with a premises liability attorney.
Ready to file a claim ?
See if you qualify to file a personal injury lawsuit.
Referenced Articles
Ray, D. (n.d.) What Is a Premises Liability Claim? Retrieved from https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-premises-liability.html
- National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (2015). 50-State Compendium on Premises Liability. Retrieved from https://namwolf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Pac_Hospitality_Compendium.pdf
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