Gordon Fenderson is an attorney in Jacksonville, Florida, specializing in personal injury accident claims and DUI defense. After receiving a degree in Political Science from Appalachian State University, Fenderson went on to earn his J.D. from Florida Coastal School of Law. He is currently the owner of the Fenderson Law Firm, and a member of the Florida Bar, Jacksonville Bar Association, Middle District of Florida, and Florida Justice Association. Here, he tells us what we should know about premises liability.
What people need to know about the concept of premises liability is that, in essence, premises liability is any injury that happens on someone else’s property. This is a wide-reaching concept, since it really applies to anyone who has gotten hurt on any kind of property that belongs to someone else, so long as the injury was due to negligence, or nearly any other reason that was not specifically within their personal control.
For example, if you went to a colleague’s house and there was some sort of dangerous condition present on the property that caused you to fall and get hurt, then that is a personal injury claim that would be listed under the category of premises liability. Likewise, if a store has a slippery floor and it does not post a sign warning customers about that floor upon entering its premises, then if you fell on that wet or slippery floor and got hurt, the claim would fall into the category of a premises liability lawsuit.
Lawsuits can fall into the premises liability category no matter what kind of property you are on when the injury occurs, just as long as it is not your own. Whether the property is owned by a business, an individual person, a government body or organization, or any of the above—you do not really need to qualify who owns the land when making the determination as to whether the case should fall into the premises liability category.
If you were injured on someone else’s property and the injury was either not your fault, or was caused because of a dangerous condition that somebody created, then you may be able to sue for personal injury and recoup your medical bills or the money you lost from being unable to work.
Now, I should say that premises liability cases are subject a few things. You can sue for personal injury due to a premises liability only depending on what type of visitor you were to the property when you were hurt. Property owners do not have a duty owed to trespassers, for example, or any other people who were not supposed to be on the property at the time of the injury. So if you were on someone’s property illegally and you were hurt during that time, you may not be able to recoup the costs of your medical bills and other monetary damages since the property owner did not owe you any form of duty. Only people who were legally on the property are eligible to sue for personal injury.
Finally, although premises liability and personal injury are two separate things, they go together oftentimes in lawsuits. So, you may have a personal injury lawsuit, but premises liability is just a way that we lump cases together. It is just a category of legal cases, and not anything specifically legal in terms of the type of lawsuit you are filing with the help of an attorney. In these types of cases, you should always contact a qualified personal injury lawyer who can put your case on the right track and get you the help you need.
