When you suffer injuries on another party’s property in Aurora, you could have a right to pursue a lawsuit against responsible parties. All property owners have a duty to keep their premises safe for visitors. When there’s a safety hazard, owners must take swift action to correct it. If the property owner doesn’t remedy it or place a warning, they could be liable for a victim’s injuries. This area of law is known as premises liability. Contact the Aurora premises liability lawyers at Gerash Steiner Blanton, P.C, to discuss whether you have grounds for a lawsuit.
Colorado Premises Liability Act
The Colorado Premises Liability Act covers all cases when you sustain injuries on another party’s property. The Act divides injured victims into three main categories—invitees, licensees, and trespassers.
Invitees
Property owners owe the most significant duty to invitees. An invitee might be a customer entering a store or who is on the property because of the owner’s express or implied representation that the public is invited and welcome. Property owners owe invitees a similar standard of care that you find in other types of personal injury claims. A property owner can be liable for failing to exercise reasonable care to protect invitees against dangers they knew or should’ve known about.
Licensees
A licensee is someone on the property for their own convenience or to advance their own interests. An invitee can also be a social guest. Licensees can recover compensation for damages resulting from a danger the property owner knew about and failed to remedy. They can also recover damages if the property owner fails to warn about a dangerous condition that guests wouldn’t usually be aware of.
Trespassers
Owners owe trespassers the lowest duty. A trespasser is someone who enters the property without the owner’s consent. Property owners are only liable for injuries they cause through their own intentional or willfully wrongful acts.
Exceptions
Some exceptions to these rules exist. For instance, the attractive nuisance doctrine could protect a child trespasser who suffers injuries. Injured child trespassers get the same level of compensation and rights as invitees and licensees. For example, a child who trespasses by entering your swimming pool without being invited could have the same protections as a child you invited to your home to swim.
Common Types of Premises Liability Cases
Multiple types of property-related injury claims fall under premises liability laws. One of the most common types is the trip & fall, but there are numerous other causes of action under premises liability.
Slip-and-Fall Accidents
Slips and falls can occur anywhere, from grocery stores to public parking lots. Claims arise from wet and slippery entrances, parking lot hazards, supermarket spills, freshly cleaned floors, and more. Severe injuries are common in slip-and-fall cases. However, defendants’ insurance companies are hesitant to believe plaintiffs because some unscrupulous plaintiffs present false claims.
Proving negligence in a slip-and-fall claim often comes down to timing. Consider an example of a spilled product in the grocery store. If another customer dropped a milk bottle one minute before you walked up, the store might not be liable because they didn’t have a reasonable amount of time to notice the spill and clean it up. However, if the spill was there for hours, they had ample time to clean it up or place warning signs around the hazard.
Please speak with our Aurora slip & fall lawyers if you sustained injuries on another party’s property. You need a skilled legal advocate to protect your rights and fight for you in a premises liability claim.
Trip-and-Fall Accidents
While some people use the terms interchangeably, trip and fall accidents are a bit different than slip-and-fall claims. Trips and falls include things you can trip over, like cracked pavement, broken sidewalks, loose carpeting, or torn flooring.
Dog Bites
Dog owners can be held legally liable for injuries caused by their pets. The owner could be responsible when the dog is not wearing a leash or is behind a fence when it attacks someone.
Dog bite claims are sometimes difficult to resolve due to disfigurement, scarring, and trauma. We don’t recommend pursuing a dog bite lawsuit without an attorney, or you risk receiving far less than your claim is worth. Please speak with our Aurora premises liability lawyers to learn how we can help you fight for fair compensation.
Negligent Security
Part of the duty to provide a safe premise for visitors includes taking proper and reasonable precautions to prevent crime. Some businesses could be liable if you become the victim of assault, robbery, or rape. For example, a parking lot that lacks adequate lighting could be a crime hot spot. If the owners know of a rash of crimes and take no additional precautions, such as installing lights or hiring security, they could be liable for your injuries.
Determining Who’s Liable in a Premises Liability Claim
It can be complicated to identify all liable parties in these matters. In some situations, a tenant or lessee could be responsible rather than the property owner. In other cases, multiple parties might share liability.
Colorado is renowned for its outdoor recreation. What happens if your accident occurs on government-owned land? Suing the government involves entirely different rules and laws than are used when suing a private citizen. In some situations, you might not be able to pursue a claim against the government at all.
You need to speak with a lawyer immediately if your injuries happened on federal or state-owned land. Claims against the government often have short deadlines, which means you might only have a few months to file a claim.
Why Hire Gerash Steiner Blanton, P.C., As your Aurora Premises Liability Lawyers?
Premises liability cases are specialized. Not all Colorado personal injury lawyers have the knowledge and skills to resolve a slip-and-fall claim successfully. Our Aurora slip & fall attorneys know what it takes to build a successful case. We have years of experience representing injured victims for slips and falls and other types of premises liability claims. Don’t risk jeopardizing your potential recovery by trying to handle your claim independently. Instead, contact our office today to schedule an initial consultation. Let us review your case and help you determine the best course of legal action.