Many of us spend most of our time on other people’s property. We go to an office or other work site. We visit stores to buy necessities and luxuries. Perhaps we go to a gym or a park for exercise or recreation. When we do this, we have a reasonable expectation that these properties are kept safe enough that we can visit them without being injured. 

However, many people experience injuries every day due to unsafe properties that are badly designed, poorly built, or negligently maintained. If this happened to you, you may have the right to compensation for your injuries with a premises liability lawsuit. The expert premises liability attorneys at Fisher & Talwar are ready to stand up for your rights and get you the compensation you are entitled to. Please contact us today for a free initial consultation. There’s no obligation, and the consultation is completely confidential. 

Why Contact Premises Liability Lawyers

If you suffered serious injuries as a result of an accident on someone else’s property, you might not immediately think to contact a premises liability lawyer. However, contacting a premises liability lawyer can help you:

  • Understand your options: In some cases, you will have the option to pursue one or more lawsuits to get compensation for your injuries. In other cases, you might not. Sometimes it might make sense to accept a settlement for your injuries. You might also have to act quickly to preserve your right to compensation. Talking to a lawyer will help you understand the situation.
  • Appreciate your damages: Some injuries result in a simple, complete recovery. Others might require ongoing treatment, which can lead to a lifelong reduction in functionality and your ability to work. Without experience with multiple injuries, you might not know what type of injury you have. A premises liability lawyer has worked with multiple people so they can appreciate which injuries are more likely to have ongoing effects.
  • Investigate your accident: You might not have the time or ability to research all the circumstances around the accident that caused your injury. For example, are you the first person injured on this property? Who owns, manages, and maintains the property? What procedures are used to protect people on the property? A premises liability lawyer can find this information more easily than you can. 
  • Assemble evidence: A premises liability lawsuit will succeed or fail on the strength of its evidence. A premises liability lawyer not only knows how to find the essential evidence, but also how to build it into a case that is more likely to get compensation for you. 
  • Navigate complexities of the law: The law is very complicated, and failure to follow the proper procedures around a premises liability lawsuit can limit the compensation you can get. Once you understand that you might be able to pursue compensation for your injuries, let the experts handle your case. 

With your lawyer handling all these aspects of your lawsuit, you can focus on the equally hard work of recovering and helping your family deal with the consequences of your accident. 

Common Types of Premises Liability Cases

Some of the most common situations where people are injured on someone else’s property include:

These situations can all have specific elements that set them apart from other types of premises liability lawsuits. It’s important to ask any potential lawyer about their experience with cases like yours. 

Is the Property Owner Liable for Compensation?

California law doesn’t automatically make property owners liable for all injuries that occur on their property. Instead, it says that property owners have a duty to take reasonable care to keep the property safe. 

What constitutes reasonable in this case depends in part on precedent and in part on what might be convincing to a jury in the event of a trial. Although most premises liability lawsuits will be settled without a trial, the extent to which arguments might be convincing to a jury will impact what settlements you might be offered. 

The Five Elements of Negligence in Premises Liability

For private property owners, there are often five elements that must be true for you to hold someone liable for your injuries on a particular property. 

  • Ownership or control: The person or entity you are filing a claim against must own or otherwise control the property where your injury occurred. It’s possible to file claims against multiple individuals, companies, or corporations if they share ownership and/or control. 
  • Negligence: This means that the person or persons in control of the property aren’t living up to the reasonable care standard. 
  • Hazardous condition: An owner or controller is only liable if their negligence created or contributed to a hazardous condition. This is a condition such as a wet floor, missing or broken stair, uneven carpet, or other hazard that is likely to lead to accidents and injury. 
  • Knowledge: People can’t be held responsible for hazards that they couldn’t know about. In order to get compensation, you have to show that the person or persons either knew about the condition or should have known about it. 
  • Causation: You must establish that the problem on the property actually caused your injuries. 

It’s hard for you to know whether your case has all of these elements until you talk to a premises liability lawyer who understands what will make these sufficient to win compensation for you or convince property owners to offer you a suitable settlement. 

Injuries on Government Property

Premises liability lawsuits are a little different when the injury takes place on the property of a government agency. First, while most premises liability lawsuits have the standard statute of limitations–2 years from the date of injury – claims for injuries on government property must be filed within 6 months of the date of injury. 

In addition, California law offers similar but not identical standards of proof for these premises liability cases:

  • A dangerous condition existed on the property
  • Your injury was caused by the dangerous condition, and was a
  • Reasonably foreseeable result of the condition
  • The public entity had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition (essentially, they knew or should have known), or
  • An employee of the public entity created the dangerous condition through wrongful or negligent action

The different definitions for public and private premises liability can cause problems if your premises liability lawyer doesn’t have experience with the situation in your case. 

What Compensation Is Available in a Premises Liability Lawsuit?

Compensation available in premises liability lawsuits is similar to what you can get in other personal injury lawsuits. It can include:

  • Medical bills
  • Ongoing care
  • Missed work
  • Diminished earning ability
  • Accommodations for disability around the home
  • Property damage
  • Emotional distress
  • Pain and suffering

The goal of compensation is to pay all the costs related to your accident. However, because California is a pure comparative liability state, if your case goes to trial, your compensation will be reduced by the degree to which the court determines that you are responsible for your injuries. If the court decides you are 25% responsible for your accident, for example, you will receive 75% of the compensation related to your accident. 

What Should I Do When I Am Injured on Someone Else’s Property?

It’s important to follow the proper steps when you are injured on someone else’s property. Failure to do so can reduce your compensation or prevent you from getting any compensation. 

After a premises liability accident:

  • Get treatment for your injuries: Even if you don’t think they are serious, go to the doctor and get examined to document the incident and learn what warning signs to watch for. 
  • Contact the authorities: Always contact the police if you are attacked by a person or animal. Also, contact the police if you suffered serious injuries or think the conditions are an imminent danger to other people. 
  • Collect information from witnesses: If anyone saw your accident, get their contact information so they can give a statement or appear in court. 
  • Take pictures of the conditions: Take pictures of the conditions that led to your accident. Property owners often fix these conditions when they hear about an incident. 
  • Be wary of calls from insurance companies: Insurance companies will call to get statements and even make settlement offers. They may try to get you to say things that can reduce your compensation and make offers that seem generous but fall short of your costs. When you start getting these offers, talk to a premises liability lawyer. 
  • Hire a premises liability lawyer: A lawyer can help you deal with insurance companies to preserve your right to the full compensation you deserve. 

Why Choose Fisher & Talwar for Your Premises Liability Lawsuit

If you have been hurt on someone else’s property, you need a premises liability lawyer who is prepared to fight for your full compensation. At Fisher & Talwar, we are here for you, and we will take care of you. You will benefit from:

  • Personal representation: When you work with Fisher & Talwar, you will always get personal representation from our partners. We never take more cases than we can handle personally. This means that you know your case is being handled by our best lawyers, not handed off to someone you would not have chosen to represent you. 
  • A track record of success: We have helped many people get compensation in premises liability lawsuits. We know how to handle these cases, and we’re not afraid to take them to trial if necessary. Our representation earns respect from insurance companies and property owners, making them more likely to offer good settlements up front. 
  • No win, no fee: We take your case on a contingency basis. This means that we only get paid if you get paid. Your family is going through enough right now and doesn’t need the additional burden of legal fees unless you get money to pay your other bills, too. 

No expenses, ever: Some lawyers separate their expenses from their fees. This means that you might end up paying more than you expect after your case concludes. Even worse, it might mean that you will have lawyer bills even if they don’t win your case. At Fisher & Talwar, we include our expenses in our fees so you always know what it will cost, and you never have anything to pay if we don’t win your case.

We Are Ready to Help You

When you know that you have expenses related to your accident, it’s time to get help from an expert premises liability lawyer. Call us today for a free initial consultation. We can answer your questions and evaluate your situation. It’s completely confidential, and there is no obligation.

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