Defenses Property Owners Use When They are Sued

When we are injured on someone’s property, and there was clearly something dangerous there, we tend to think that it will be an “easy” case. After all, property owners have a duty to keep their property safe, and free from hazards like debris on the floor or items falling from above, or even from dangerous criminal elements at or around their store.

But you may be surprised to learn that even if you are injured on someone’s property, and if and when you do bring a lawsuit against them to recover for your damages, the case may not be as easy as it seems; property owners, and the law, have developed in ways to give property owners a lot of defenses to your claim.

It’s worth noting that many of these defenses are easily defeated by an injury attorney who knows what they’re doing. Most people who get caught up with these defenses, and are prevented from getting compensation, have opted not to use a good injury attorney.

Blaming Other Companies

Many property owners will contract out with third parties to conduct essential functions on their property. Imagine, for example, a company that services and fixes elevators or escalators, or a company that handles security on the property, or a separate, outside cleaning service.

When something goes wrong, and the property owner is sued, they often will try to blame the third party vendors that do these kinds of things on their property.

Blaming You

It’s hard to believe, since you were just an innocent victim, but property owners may blame you for your own accident. They may do this in a number of ways.

• They may say you weren’t paying attention; you weren’t looking at the ground where you fell, or maybe you weren’t even wearing proper and safe shoes at the time you fell.
• They may say that whatever condition injured you, was so out in the open (called open and obvious) that you could have or should have seen it, had you been paying attention.
• They may look in your medical background to try to see if you’ve had balance or falling problems in the past, to try to say it’s that, and not their property, that caused you to fall and injure yourself.
• They may say that they had signs or warnings or other notices about a dangerous condition which you didn’t see (whether they did or didn’t, and whether any posted notice was sufficient, is a question for the jury to decide).

They Didn’t Know

Property owners have to have notice of the dangerous condition, whether actual notice, or constructive notice.

In many cases, especially with falls caused by unclean floors, the property owner will say they had no idea that the dangerous item or substance was on the floor. It’s then on you, the victim, to show that the substance or item was on the floor long enough for the property owner to have done something about it.

Fight back against these common defenses. Schedule a consultation with our Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today for help after your slip and fall accident.

Source:

advocatemagazine.com/article/2022-march/don-t-trip-over-these-common-premises-liability-defenses