If I Get Hurt On Someone’s Property, Is Their Insurance Responsible for Any Injury?
A landowner is responsible for ensuring his or her property is safe. The law does not decree that a property owner is automatically responsible for all happenings on the property. Upon a showing a fault – in this instance allowing an unsafe condition to exits- a property owner may be held accountable. But a property owner is not strictly, or automatically, liable to anyone who sustains an injury. The common language that you see in judicial opinions denying recovery to an injury victim is the that landowner is not “the insurer” of users of the property. Liability is not automatic. It must be proven that there was a deviation from the standard of care for landowners.
The obligation is often phrased as a duty to keep the property free of dangerous or defective conditions of which the landowner knew, or of which they should have known.
Typically, people in, or going to, commercial establishments are considered invitees. So, the law would seem to suggest that the business premises and should be safe and free from ice and snow, and that if the standard is safety from dangerous conditions, like ice, of which the owner ‘should have been aware’ then were would seem to be a duty to inspect to make sure there are no such conditions. Any seasoned personal injury lawyer Attorney Eric T. Kirk who handles slip and fall cases will tell you that can be a hard argument to win. The business owner will frequently claim they had no actual notice of the icy condition, and therefore had no opportunity to cure it, an argument that is successful in a surprising number of cases. Baltimore premises liability cases are challenging. Because of the hurdles involved, some lawyers choose not to handle these types of cases.
My preference on any premises injury case is to hold a case evaluation and strategy conference with the prospective client as quickly as possible after the accident. Timing is often vital. Feel free to contact me today. 410 591 2835.
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For over three decades, I have battled against the nation’s largest insurance companies, always endeavoring to ensure my clients receive the compensation they deserve. As lead counsel in thousands of cases across Maryland, New York, and Florida, I have recovered millions for clients whose claims were wrongfully denied and delayed. Whether denying fair compensation for a personal injury victim or denying benefits to a homeowner, Insurance companies employ policy exclusions, technicalities, and lowball offers to deny and defeat claims. They also hire very good lawyers to fight you in court. So should you. When an insurance company unfairly rejects a claim, I stop them.
