When most people are invited to visit another person’s property, they probably aren’t thinking about the potential liability that the property owner is exposed to by that act. Whether you are invited to a friend’s house for a social gathering or you are a customer at a store, for example, property owners owe you a duty to make sure that their property is safe. So, what happens if you are injured after being invited to someone else’s property?
Premises liability basics
This hypothetical factual scenario falls squarely under the area of law known as premises liability. If a property owner does not remedy dangerous property conditions, or does not adequately warn “invitees” about dangerous property conditions, and the failure to abide by that duty leads to an injury, that property owner could be held liable for damages in a civil lawsuit. The injured party’s status as an invitee to the property is crucial, because invited guests to property are owed the highest level of a duty to protect by the property owner.
Of course, even if you might think it is clearly evident that your injury occurred because of a dangerous property condition on another person’s property, in a lawsuit the plaintiff is still obligated to prove every element of the case. Duty, breach of duty, causation and damages are the main elements that must be proven in any tort case.
If you suffered an injury on someone else’s property, be sure to have your potential claim carefully evaluated to see if your facts could lead to the potential recovery of financial compensation. That compensation could be used to pay your medical bills, among other possible expenses that arise in the aftermath of a personal injury incident.