PREMISES LIABILITY

PREMISES LIABILITY

Premises liability cases are those that involve slip and fall injuries, dog bites, swimming pool drownings and any other injuries or fatalities occurring on the land or property owned by an individual or a business. Property owners have the responsibility to take reasonable action to prevent injuries from taking place on their premises. If an owner fails to do so, a premises liabilityclaim can be filed in order to collect compensation for injuries suffered on the property.

Premises liability law in Texas categorizes plaintiffs under one of three distinctions: invitee, licensee or trespasser. Invitees are people who are invited to the premises for commercial benefit of the owner or for direct business dealings, such as shoppers at a department store. Licensees are people who enter the premises for non-business dealings, such as houseguests. Trespassers are uninvited guests to the property.

In the case of invitees and licensees, you must prove three main counts in a premises liability case in order to recover damages:

  1. The property owner knew (or should have known) about the dangerous condition that caused the injury;
  2. The property owner failed to take reasonable care to correct the situation;
  3. The invitee or licensee did not know of the conditions and/or risk involved.

In cases involving trespassers, negligence is harder to prove, but it can be done. For example, if a property owner is aware that trespassers are coming onto the property and is also aware of certain unsafe conditions and makes no reasonable effort to correct the dangers, he or she may be held liable for injuries received on the property.

The Dallas premises liability lawyers at The Goolsby Law Firm, can defend you if you’ve been injured on someone else’s property as an invitee, licensee or even as a trespasser. Call our office directly at 972-394-2141 or on to set up a free, no-obligation consultation with a Dallas premises liability lawyer. We work on a contingent fee basis, which means we don’t get paid unless you recover damages for your loss.