Under Florida state law, every person who lets other people onto their private property takes on a “duty of care.” This duty requires them to do certain things in order to protect those visitors from preventable accidents. Any landowner who fails to live up to this duty and allows a lawful visitor to get hurt may be civilly liable for that visitor’s ensuing losses. Getting paid fairly after suffering an injury will be easier said than done.
A seasoned personal injury attorney could assist in recovering fair civil compensation after any accident caused by someone else’s negligence, and that is especially true for cases governed by premises liability law. When you are injured because another person did not take proper care of their land, contacting an experienced Lake Mary premises liability lawyer should be one of your top priorities.
One important thing to understand about premises liability law in Florida is that landowners are not equally liable for every accident and injury that happens on their property. In fact, the degree to which a landowner is liable for a particular incident can change dramatically depending on why the injured person was on their property to begin with.
For example, landowners have basically no duty to protect illegal trespassers from accidental harm, although they may still be liable for injuries to minor children under specific circumstances. They cannot do anything to intentionally injure trespassers. Conversely, property owners are expected to warn “licensees”—people like party houseguests visiting lawfully for their own purposes—of any hazardous conditions they are already aware of as the landowner. The owner must either fix or cordon off those hazards reasonably quickly after discovering them.
Finally, property owners owe the greatest duty of care to “invitees” like retail store customers visiting lawfully for the property owner’s benefit. As a Lake Mary property liability attorney could further explain, landowners may be liable for injuries suffered by invitees due to hazards the landowner reasonably should have known about through regular inspection of their property.
Of course, property owners—especially big companies operating commercial property—will not just accept responsibility for an accident even if it seems obvious they are legally at fault for it. One of the most common defenses raised by landowners against premises liability claims is that the accident was not “foreseeable”—in other words, that no reasonable property owner could have anticipated and prevented the accident which led to the injury.
Another common strategy is to argue that the hazard which caused the injury was “open and obvious” to any reasonable person, meaning the injured person was implicitly unreasonable and therefore does not have grounds for a claim. A premises liability lawyer in Lake Mary will guide you in navigating around these obstacles that are preventing you from getting fair restitution for your harm.
No two civil claims are exactly alike, and no two property owners will approach litigation against them in the same way. Put simply, if you want a good shot at achieving a positive result from a case filed under premises liability law, you need help from a legal professional with experience handling property injury claims in the past.
A conversation with a Lake Mary premises liability lawyer could offer you answers to important questions and confidence about the steps you should take towards civil recovery. Call today to set up a free consultation from a team member at The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Lawyers.
The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys
