What happens if you are visiting a neighbor and fall in a hole in their yard or get hit by a falling light fixture? These things happen all the time, and sometimes the injuries can be serious or even fatal. When this happens, who pays for the damages?
The answer is yes, you can sue, but a better question is, what are the odds of getting the court to award you compensation? Like many legal questions, the answer lies in the details of the incident. The likelihood of getting compensation depends on the legal status of person while on the property.
Status of Victim on Someone Else’s Property
There are three types of people on someone else’s property when determining liability:
- Business invitee: This is when a store owner opens up shop and “invites” people to come to their property for the sake of business.
- Licensee: This is when a private property (like a homeowner) invites someone to come on to their property
- Trespasser: Those coming onto someone’s property when uninvited.
If the person is invited on a business property (business invitee) or as a invited guest (licensee) then the owner owes them a duty of care to keep the place reasonable free of hazards and to warn of know possible hazards or dangerous conditions.
If the person is a trespasser, then the owner doesn’t owe them a duty except they can’t purposefully harm the trespasser.
Duties Owed to Children
If a child trespasses onto someone’s property, the owner might be liable for any injury if there was an “attractive nuisance” such as a trampoline, tree house or a telescope on the roof. The idea is that kids will make a decision to come on the property based on the conditions left by the owner and then get injured.
Types of Injures the Law Allows Compensation
There are many ways to get injured on someone else’s property, and any injury can cause you great pain and suffering and significant financial losses. The law allows you to recover for these injuries if the owner was negligent:
- Falling on walkways
- Stairs
- Broken glass/debris
- Tripping over objects
- Falling in a hole
- Construction area injuries
- Falling off balcony/roof
- Swimming pool injuries
Contact a Premises Liability Attorney Today
If you’ve been injured while on someone else’s property, you need to talk to a Spokane Premises Liability Attorney today. Whether it was a business open to the public, or if you were invited into a home or your child was drawn on the property and was injured, you need to speak to an attorney who knows the law on premises liability and has experience getting awards for their clients.
The attorneys at  Crary, Clark, Domanico, & Chuang, P.S., serve clients in Spokane, Washington, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and surrounding communities. They can go toe-to-toe with the insurance companies and their lawyers to get you fair compensation for your injuries. Call them at (509) 926-4900, or send them a message by clicking here.
