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Do you know what is being done in your community to protect the citizens from crime? Do you have a crime-watch program? Is there a community website that lists the current investigations and events that may have recently occurred? Law enforcement officials can only do so much when it comes to protecting a community. If your community is not active in protecting itself, crime rates could rise and many residents could find themselves the target or victim of crimes. Visit my blog to find out what you can do as a community to lower crime rates and help the law enforcement officials do their jobs.

Legal Liability For Premises Liability Injury

Law Blog

If you want to make a premises liability claim, you should be prepared to prove why the defendant (property owner) should compensate for your damages. An attorney who offers personal injury attorney services will assist you with this. Here are two main questions whose answers will help determine liability for your injuries:

Why Were You at the Accident Scene?

This question is important because it determines the level of duty or care the defendant owed to you or even whether the defendant owed you any duty. There are three main types of injury victims as far as duty of care is concerned, and they include:

Invitee

Being an invitee means you were on the defendant's premises at their invitation and you were doing something that would benefit the defendant. For example, if the defendant is a shopkeeper, then being a customer makes you an invitee because buying things from the shop benefits the defendant. Property owners owe the highest duty of care to invitees, and they are supposed to go out of their way to make invitees safe, for example, by dealing with all foreseeable causes of accidents.

Trespasser

A trespasser is the exact opposite of an invitee; if you are a trespasser, then it means you are on a property without the owner's consent – in short, the defendant didn't want you to be on their property. Property owners don't owe any duty of care to trespassers (with a few exceptions) as long as the property owners don't intentionally create risks for the trespassers.

Licensee

If you are a licensee, then it means you had permission to be on the defendant's property, but you were there for your own purposes. For example, if you entered the premises to ask for directions because you were lost, then you are considered a licensee and the property owner owes you a duty of care between the invitee and the trespasser.

What Was the Cause of the Accident?

Just because you are an invitee, it doesn't mean that the property owner is automatically liable for your damages if you are injured on their property. The exact cause of the accident will determine whether the property owner is liable for your damages or not. Specifically, the property owner will only be liable for your injuries if:

  • They knew or should have known that the danger (cause of the accident existed).
  • They could have prevented or warned you about the danger.
  • They did not prevent or warn you about the danger, causing you to get hurt on their property/

For example, if you slip and fall on a normal floor because you were running on high heels, then you automatically don't qualify for premises liability compensation because there is no way that property owner could have known you would run on their property.

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21 July 2018