Property owners in California have a legal duty to use reasonable care to keep the property free from hazardous conditions. If you have been injured in an accident on someone else’s property, call Faulkner Law Offices in Bakersfield to schedule a consultation. You may have a premises liability claim for compensation.
Our attorneys at Faulkner Law Offices operate on a contingency fee basis. This means you pay us no legal fees until we recover compensation for you. We have been representing injured people for decades, which gives us the knowledge, skills, and resources to better pursue compensation for our clients. We take a personal approach to injury law, maintaining a direct line of communication, so you are free to voice any questions or concerns when the need arises.
Premises liability refers to the legal responsibility of property owners to exercise reasonable care to prevent injury to visitors on the premises. The property should be kept in a reasonably safe condition at all times. Property owner duties include inspecting the property for dangerous conditions and correcting them. A property owner, proprietor, or commercial landlord who knew or should have known about a dangerous condition in time to correct it and failed to do so may be held liable for resulting injuries.
Liability for unsafe conditions may be extended to include conditions that are designed or built into the property, in addition to hazardous conditions resulting from lack of maintenance or neglect. Reasonableness of both the property owner or occupier and the injured victim is a key concept in premises liability law.
Visitors to a property can be injured in a variety of ways. Examples of common premises liability injuries include:
In most cases, property owners cannot be held liable for injuries unless they had notice of the dangerous condition. This can be actual notice or constructive notice. Constructive notice means the property owner knew, or should have known, in the exercise of reasonable care that the hazardous condition existed. Property owners may be held accountable for failing in their duty to inspect and properly maintain the property.
Property owners are not responsible for ensuring a visitor’s safety. They have a duty to exercise the care that a reasonable person would use in the foreseeable use and maintenance of the property.
Under the doctrine of comparative negligence, visitors to a property are required to exercise reasonable care for their own safety. Property owners are not required to warn visitors of obviously hazardous conditions. The assumption is that when a danger is open and obvious, a reasonable person will avoid it. In a California premises liability claim, the amount of damages recoverable by the injured party is reduced by the percentage of responsibility for the accident he or she is assigned.
If you believe you may have a premises liability claim for damages after an accident on someone else’s property, get in touch with Faulkner Law Offices today. Our Bakersfield premises liability lawyers can tell you if you have a case and what damages you may be able to claim.