Fairfax Premises Liability Lawyer

Premises liability encompasses cases during which injuries were sustained because of negligence by a property owner, regardless of whether the property is residential or commercial. It is not limited to a specific type of injury or specific events causing the injury, and is applicable to visitors, customers, employees, and, even in limited circumstances, trespassers.

If you have suffered an injury because a property owner has failed to maintain the property in a safe condition, an experienced Fairfax premises liability lawyer will work with you to get the financial compensation that you deserve. To learn more or begin filing your claim, consult with an injury attorney in Fairfax today.

Premises Liability Requirements

Premises liability laws require property owners to maintain their property in a condition that is safe for others to enter. In some cases, that gives the property owner a duty to make people aware of dangerous conditions, while in other cases, the property owner may be required to maintain adequate security to protect those who enter.

A property owner’s failure to meet their legal duty can result in being liable for injuries that the victim sustained. This liability could lead to a lawsuit, which would need to be addressed with the assistance of a premises liability attorney in Fairfax.

A property owner is responsible for repairing or warning of known dangers and dangers that should have been discovered. For example, if someone trips and is injured on tiles that have been chipped for weeks, that can establish that the property owner should have been aware of the dangerous condition because of the amount of time during which it could have been discovered.

Duty of The Homeowner

The status of the injured person at the time that she or he entered the property determines the duty that is owed to the person by the property owner. The highest duty that a property owner has is to invitees, which are guests entering the property for business purposes either with an implied invitation, such as at a public restaurant, or a personal invitation, such as hiring a landscaper. When a visitor is an invitee, the property owner has a duty to inspect the property to make it reasonably safe, is liable for defects that are discoverable, and has a duty to notify visitors of unsafe conditions so that they may avoid injury.

A licensee is a person who enters another’s property with permission from the property owner to enter; private residences typically have licensees. A property owner’s duty to a licensee is to correct defects in the property that the property owner should be aware have an unreasonable risk of harm and subsequently warn guests of known defects if the defect is not obvious.

Property owners also have limited duties to trespassers. A property owner’s general duty to a trespasser is not to purposefully injure that person. An exception may be found when the injured person trespasses so frequently that the property owner would have been aware of the trespassing and the likelihood that the trespasser would be injured.

Another exception may be found when a property owner does not take precautions to secure dangerous instruments, leaving it easily accessible to children.

How a Fairfax Premises Liability Lawyer Can Help

Premises liability law in Virginia can be complex and whether the property owner was negligent in maintaining the property or not may not be easy to determine. It is important to speak with an experienced Fairfax premises liability attorney that had been successful in premises liability cases to get you the compensation necessary to move forward.