Premises liability claims are those resulting from an injury occurring on (or in some cases, near) someone else’s property. Although occasionally these claims can arise in the context of a visit to a person’s personal home or property, most of the cases we handle occur on commercial properties: at stores, shopping centers, apartments, or other business ventures.

There are two broad categories of premises liability claim: those involving a trip and fall, slip and fall, or other injury caused by a physical defect in the property, and negligent security cases, involving the landowner’s lack of adequate security and security procedures. While both involve a dangerous condition on someone else’s property, they

SLIP AND FALL/TRIP AND FALL PREMISES LIABILITY CASES

One type of premises liability case involves a hazardous structural or physical condition on the property – such as defective construction or a foreign substance – causing a fall or other injury (these are sometimes referred to as “slip-and-fall” or “trip-and-fall” cases). Broadly speaking, if a property owner or occupier has knowledge of the hazard and the victim does not, then the victim may be able to recover due to the owner or occupier’s failure to keep the property safe. Where the person responsible for the property doesn’t have actual knowledge of the hazardous or dangerous condition but, because of the cause (such as a leaking roof that the owner knew was prone to leaking) or the time the hazard has been present, should have known of the condition, it may be deemed to have what is legally called “constructive knowledge” and may still be liable. Besides cases involving falls, similar premises liability claims may arise where other hazardous conditions are present on someone’s property, such as falling objects or hidden dangers that pose a risk of harm to innocent visitors.

NEGLIGENT SECURITY PREMISES LIABILITY CASES

Another type of premises liability case involves claims against a property owner for failing to provide proper security on the property, leading to a violent attack on the victim. These claims may be supported by evidence of the owner or occupier’s failure to keep doors, gates, or windows in good repair, as well as the failure to provide adequate security guards or other personnel on the property to deter crime. This is particularly important in high-crime areas. Even in such areas, commercial property owners who allow others to come onto their property have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect patrons from injuries.

Security measures can include hiring security guards to maintain the area, and maintaining cameras to provide monitoring to areas where the public may be present. It is common for security cameras to be broken or otherwise not functioning, and this may provide evidence of a landlord’s lack of due care for visitors’ safety. In some cases, a security company may also be liable if it or its employees failed to do their job. One challenge in these cases (and in all types of cases) is preservation of evidence – it is not uncommon in negligent security cases for critical evidence to be lost, either because the potential defendant intentionally destroyed it or because it was lost or simply discarded after a time. It is therefore important to notify the party believed to be liable of a claim, and request that they preserve all evidence, as soon as possible. Where they fail to do so, they can face sanctions, including rulings that lower the victim’s burden of proving their case in some circumstances, and this can sometimes apply even where the destruction of evidence cannot be proved to be intentional.

GEORGIA PREMISES LIABILITY CASES AND DAMAGES

These sorts of cases may result in very serious, and sometimes permanent injuries, including death. We have handled premises liability cases resulting in fractured backs, vertebral disc herniations, concussions and other serious head injuries, and various joint and muscle injuries requiring extensive medical treatment and recovery. We have also achieved significant recoveries for our clients in cases where they were injured or killed due to a landlord’s negligent security at a property. Because insurers or property owners sometimes refuse to take these claims seriously, however, or attempt to place the blame on the victim, premises liability claims very often need to be litigated through trial.