Also known as a slip and fall accident, the premises liability accident is one of the most common accidents in California. At Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas, we see many of these cases and while many are straightforward, they can also be complicated. It’s not always a property owners fault if you’re injured on their land – even if there were dangerous conditions on their property that resulted in your injury.
If you have been injured on someone else’s property and you believe that they were at fault, then you can read on to learn more about proving negligence in these cases. You can also contact us at 909-982-0707 to get a free legal consultation and find out what your options are.
The law’s opinion on the property owner’s duty
The first thing that’s necessary to prove that the property owner was either completely or partially at fault for your accident is to prove that they did not meet their legal duty to maintain their property in safe conditions. They aren’t required to get rid of any and all potential hazardous conditions on their property every second of the day – that would be an unreasonable burden on them.
That said, they are required to take what are known as “reasonable precautions.” This means that if there’s a large hole on their property, they should either fix it or offer warnings to people on their property. If you can show that the owner of the property knew about the danger and did nothing, then it’s likely you can prove they were negligent. Otherwise, you may have to prove that a reasonable person should have known about the danger. This is where a personal injury attorney comes in.
There is a statute of limitations
Even when the owner of the property was clearly at fault for an accident, there is a statute of limitations on how long you have to file a lawsuit in California. For most cases of a personal injury nature, you’ll have two years from the date of the accident that caused the injury. However, there are exceptions. For example, if the negligent party was a state government agency then you have just six months to file your lawsuit. This is why it’s always worth it to contact an attorney sooner rather than later.
Comparative negligence is an important factor
One common tactic by the defendant in a premises liability case is to blame the victim. The truth is that in many cases, the victim did have some fault. However, you can be partially at fault and still win a premises liability case. It all comes down to comparative negligence.
The way it works is simple: A jury or judge awards you an award for your injuries and then assigns you a percentage of fault. Your final award is then reduced by that percentage of fault. An easy example is $100,000 case in which you were found to be 20% at fault. Your award would be reduced by 20% to $80,000.
