California law allows the injured party to claim compensations from the owner of a property if he or she was hurt while being on that property. Premises liability in personal injury cases in L.A. is based on negligence but this is not always easy to prove. The degree of liability can depend on a number of factors and the injured individual can also be held liable for the accident to a certain degree.
Our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys can help you in premises accidents. Together with one of our lawyers, you will be able to build your case and prove the owner’s liability.
Table of Contents
The owner’s liability in premises accidents in L.A.
Premises liability accidents have a key defining element, not present in other cases like car accidents for example. In order to define negligence, the plaintiff needs to prove that the owner breached his duty of care towards maintaining a safe premises/environment for those passing through his property. Regardless of the type of property, owners have the duty to ensure that customers, visitors or guests do not face any danger when entering the property.
The owner’s duty of care extends from private property owners to store owners or amusement park managers. Injuries that can arise in these types of places can range from simple slip and fall accidents to more serious injuries or even death in some rare cases.
A lawyer can help you establish the degree of duty the owner should have had in a particular case. For example, individuals who invite friends to their new house cannot be expected to have the same degree of care as a store owner who must ensure the safety of hundreds of individuals every day.
California uses a pure comparative negligence rule, meaning that the defendant (the owner of the property in this case) can argue that he is not the only one to blame for the accident. While it is true that the owner needs to keep his premises safe and in proper condition, the plaintiff will not have a solid case if, for example, a hazardous situation was obvious in a certain location and he/she still proceeded to enter the premises. For example, the owner of a store in California may not be 100% to blame if a child decided to climb a pile of sand located at the far end of the parking lot, just for fun, and he ended up falling and hurting himself.
In shared fault cases both the plaintiff and the defendant can be found guilty, however, according to law, the plaintiff can still claim compensations even if he is 99% at fault. However, the settlement amount will be reduced by that percentage of fault.
If you were injured in a premises accident and the doctor who treated you failed to properly diagnose your injury, you can claim compensation for this. Likewise, you can also file a claim for medical malpractice when the doctor offered you improper medication or at an improper dosage or when you did not receive proper follow-up care. Our Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyer can assist you.
Our lawyers invite you to watch the following video on proving liability in premises accidents:
Types of premises liability cases in California
Various types of accidents can qualify as premises liability cases. Some examples include slip and fall, snow and ice accidents, poor premises maintenance, defects of the premises, elevator accidents, accidents in amusement parks or swimming pools and others.
Dog bite cases can also fall into this category if the animal is perceived as an unsafe condition on someone’s property.
In a premises liability case, the injured party must be able to prove that the owner neglected his duties and that this was what caused the accident. An important exception to this rule applies in trespassing cases where the owner can be found liable only if he knew about the trespasser’s intentions and created unsafe conditions to harm him.
You can contact our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys for more information about proving negligence and liability in various personal injury cases.
If you would like to know more about our services in other areas, such as those concerning injuries that occur in a medical setting, you can discuss your particular case with one of our specialized attorneys. Our team also includes birth injury lawyers in Los Angeles who can help represent you if you or your baby were injured during childbirth and you wish to claim compensation for your injuries.
Mothers who suffered a traumatic birth experience, or whose newborn babies were injured during childbirth (to different degrees, either light injuries such as bruising or more serious ones, such as a broken arm), can claim compensation for these types of injuries. Our birth injury lawyers in Los Angeles will answer your questions about your rights, and how you can prove the injury.
We can also help you in other personal injury cases because we have different teams of lawyers:
– truck accident attorneys in Los Angeles,
– brain injury attorneys in Los Angeles,
– slip and fall lawyers in Los Angeles,
– wrongful death attorney in Los Angeles,– malpractice attorney Los Angeles.