Delray Beach Premises Liability Lawyer
It is generally true that a landowner or business owner (or operator) has a duty to make their premises safe for the people who enter them. If they fail to do so, the resulting lawsuit is usually filed under a legal theory called premises liability. Depending on the specifics of the situation, an injured plaintiff may be able to show that their injuries were preventable with the right amount of care. The Delray Beach premises liability lawyers at Leifer & Ramirez are experienced with many different situations and can guide you through the process of filing suit.
Multiple Types of Premises Liability Cases
Florida premises liability law extends to many different situations. Examples include dog bite cases, cases of negligent security (incidents in which someone is injured that arguably would not have occurred if security had been tougher), accidents in swimming pools or with other structures on privately owned land, and child trespasser cases. Perhaps the most commonly seen, however, is the slip and fall accident, where a substance not normally left on a floor leads to someone being injured. Any occasion where a visitor is injured and can make an argument that increased oversight would have averted their injuries may conceivably give rise to a premises liability case.
Slip and fall cases are perhaps the most common premises liability actions brought in Florida. This is understandable when one takes into account two factors – that Florida’s population of elderly people is generally higher than the national average (approximately 20 percent) of Floridians are over age 65), and that falls are among the leading causes of injury and death for the elderly, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). An elderly person who has fallen on someone’s floor generally has a higher risk of injury than someone younger.
Bringing Suit
If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligent or reckless conduct, and you believe you may have a claim under a premises liability theory, there is one piece of information that you must have before a case can be brought – you must know what status you (or the injured party) occupy in terms of the law. Florida law recognizes three distinct classes of entrants onto one’s property: invitees, licensees, and trespassers. Invitees are either business or personal, and they are those people invited onto land either at the request of the owner or in order to do business – for example, customers of a public business are considered invitees. Licensees are on the land for their own business – an example would be a neighbor kid retrieving a ball from a yard. Trespassers are present on land without permission.
Once you are certain which type you belong to, you can be more aware of the duty of care you were owed and are better able to determine whether or not it was breached. If you were a customer at a business (an invitee) and you slipped on the floor, the duty of care owed to you is different than if you were, say, in that business merely to ask to use a restroom (a licensee). And these are different still from the duty owed to an adult trespasser (there are exceptions for child trespassers due to their age and relative inexperience), which is simply to refrain from intentionally injuring them.
Don’t Delay – Call Our Premises Liability Lawyers Today
Being injured while out living one’s life is the last thing anyone expects, but it can be even worse knowing that had someone else done a better job making their property safe, it might have been avoided. The Delray Beach premises liability lawyers at Leifer & Ramirez can help answer any questions you might have about your situation, and guide you through the process of filing suit if you decide to do so. Call us today to schedule a free consultation.
