Slips, Trips and Falls

Slips, Trips and Falls

If you are injured in a place of business, or on someone else’s property, you may have a right to file a premises liability claim. In California, the owners or occupiers of property are held to a duty to use reasonable care to:

1. Maintain their premises in reasonably safe condition;
2. Inspect their premises to discover dangerous or unsafe conditions and correct them;
3. Warn of any hazardous conditions on the property that are either known or should have been known by the owner or occupier.

Premises liability is based on negligence law. A homeowner, business owner, or property owner may be held liable if it can be proven that his negligence contributed to causing injury to persons who have properly entered their premises. Negligence law is defined in California Civil Code Section 1714(a):

“Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his willful acts, but also for injury occasioned to another by his want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself.”

Premises liability claims originate from injuries caused by dangerous conditions such as staircases without railings, substances on the floor or walkway that cause slips and falls; uneven sidewalks, potholes, tree roots or fallen limbs that cause trips and falls; faulty furniture or equipment; broken, irregular, or unmarked stairs or steps, or other building code violations; inadequate lighting; or when the possessor of the premises fails to take reasonable steps to protect visitors from unsafe activities taking place on the property.

However, not all injuries that occur on another’s property are compensable under premises liability. In order to prevail in a negligence action, your personal injury lawyer must prove that the defendant owned, leased, occupied, or controlled the property, that the defendant was negligent in the use or maintenance of the property, that you were injured, and that the defendant’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing the harm that you suffered.

Contact the Law Offices of Kroger-Diamond & Campos for more information. Our attorneys have the expertise to navigate through the complexities of California premises liability, and we are ready to help.