Houston Premises Liability Lawyer
Most people feel safe visiting a friend’s ranch or the local grocery store—and they should—but sometimes accidents happen that shouldn’t. It is up to a property’s owner to guarantee some amount of safety to guests, and when an accident happens to you, it is also up to the property owner to compensate you appropriately for your damages.
With the help of a knowledgeable Houston premises liability lawyer from Denena Points, PC, together we can hold the responsible party accountable for what you’ve endured as a result of unnecessary negligence.
What Is Premises Liability?
Premises liability is usually used in personal injury cases in which the owner is accused of negligent property maintenance that somehow causes an injury. The injured person is required to prove that the owner either knew or should have known about hazardous elements on the premises and failed to use reasonable care to correct the dangers.
Whatever the circumstances of your case, a determined Houston premises liability lawyer will help sort out the facts and get you on the path to recuperation.
Types of Premises Liability Accidents
Personal injuries come in all forms, and premises liability cases are little different. You could be involved in any number of unfortunate circumstances.
Deficient maintenance or poor conditions of the premises could be the root cause of any of the following:
- Carnival and amusement park accidents
- Slip-and-fall accidents
- Dog bites
- Burns from fires, explosions, or electrocutions—possibly due to faulty gas lines or poor wiring
Premises liability encompasses many different types of accidents. These can be complex situations involving owners, owner operators, tenants, and more. Determining who the negligent party is can be difficult. A Houston premises liability lawyer from our firm will investigate your accident and find out who owes you monetary compensation for what happened.
Security Failures
Owners of apartment or office buildings have a responsibility to secure their entrances. When someone breaks in or trespasses, resulting in an assault or worse, the victim must show that the property owner failed to take reasonable precaution when securing the premises to make a premises liability claim.
Attractive Nuisance Doctrine
Children receive special attention in premises liability law. There is an endless number of outdoor enhancements or oddities that a child might find attractive, such as swimming pools, trampolines, or even empty safes or refrigerators.
People and businesses are required to secure these types of features with fencing or warning signs in an effort to protect children from their own curiosity and lack of experience.
Property Owner Responsibilities
Texas is one of the states that use a visitor’s status to determine the level of a landowner’s duty to his or her safety and well-being. The status of visitors is divided into invitees, licensees, and trespassers, each holding the owner to progressively less of a burden of care.
Determining what your status was when you were injured isn’t always simple, so the insight of a Houston premises liability lawyer is essential to getting the facts right before entering the courtroom or a settlement negotiation.
Invitees
Invitees are people that have the permission of the landowner to enter the property with the intent of mutual benefit. The landowner is required to reduce or remove anything that creates an unreasonable risk of harm to the invitee.
Friends on the property for visiting purposes normally fall into this category.
Licensees
Licensees are people that have the permission of the landowner to enter the property but are doing so for their own purposes. For example, landowners only owe salespersons a warning of hazardous conditions that might pose a risk. This is only if the landowner knows about the condition and the licensee is unlikely to discover it without harm.
Trespassers
Trespassers are people that have no permission to enter the property, and the landowner doesn’t owe them anything as a result—except in the case of children. Landowners must take reasonable care to avoid attractive nuisances as described above.
Status Fluidity
An individual’s status on a property owner’s land can change if they go somewhere they were not supposed to go. An invitee can become a licensee or a trespasser depending on the severity of the individual’s wandering. A Houston premises liability lawyer can help determine if that occurred in your case and how the court is likely to view things.
Landlords and Tenants
Texas requires landlords to disclose hidden dangers and care for common areas that are still in their possession, such as exterior hallways and stairwells in apartment buildings. In the event that the unit a tenant occupies requires repairs, the landlord must complete the repairs safely and in a timely manner.
Call a Houston Premises Liability Lawyer
If you have been injured on someone else’s property, you might have an opportunity to make a premises liability claim. The landowner has a responsibility to make sure his or her property is safe for visitors, and if an injury occurs, restitution should be made for the resulting expenses and damages.
A Houston premises liability lawyer from Denena Points, PC can help sort through the possible at-fault parties and determine who needs to be held accountable. Please call us at 713-807-9500 or fill out the form below to schedule a free legal evaluation today.