What Happens If You Are Hurt While Visiting a Store or Restaurant in Montgomery County?
While shopping for groceries or stopping for a bite to eat, a patron may be injured. When an accident due to a slip-and-fall, a broken step, or falling merchandise causes an injury on another person’s property, the question that must be answered is: who is responsible for those injuries?
In Pennsylvania, a property owner is responsible for maintaining their store or restaurant in a reasonably safe condition. The failure to do so can put others in a situation where an accident is more likely to occur. A legal claim based on injuries suffered on another person’s property is known as a premises liability case.
An Overview of Pennsylvania Premises Liability Claims
Identifying the particular harms a person has suffered in a premises liability claim is the first step in this process. What has happened to the injured individual, and what needs to happen to begin to make that person “whole” again? This is the analysis that must be performed in a successful premises liability case.
A property owner must maintain reasonably safe grounds. There are three classes of persons who may be physically on that property: an invitee, a licensee, and a trespasser. The property owner owes different duties to a person on the property, depending on the person’s status. For example, an invitee is owed a heightened duty of care by the owner compared to the duty owed to a trespasser.
For a property owner to be found responsible for the injuries of a person on their property, it must be proven that the owner was negligent in their duty to maintain the property. This is otherwise known as the failure to maintain reasonable care over the premises. Injuries frequently stem from premises liability circumstances, including slip-and-fall accidents, swimming pool accidents, and dog bites.
Defining What It Means to Suffer an Injury in a Premises Liability Case
Property owners and those people responsible for maintaining a property may be held responsible for injuries suffered on that property. Whether it is a gas station, grocery store, fast-food restaurant, or shopping mall, property owners must uphold certain safety standards.
The duty of care owed to other people by property owners involves the obligation under the law to maintain their properties sufficiently to prevent injury.
Invitees are people invited to the property by the owner for business purposes. Commerce is the central motivation for inviting the other person onto their property. Most people on-site at restaurants and stores are invitees. A property owner owes an invitee a greater duty of care than is owed to the other two groups of people, which are coming next. Inspections of the property, hazards fixed as soon as they are discovered, and potentially warning visitors of dangers that cannot be immediately fixed are examples of how a property owner must care for invitees.
Another type of invited individual who may be on premises at an owner’s property is a licensee. This person enters the property as the owner’s guest. When a neighbor’s son graduates from high school, and the entire street is invited to the neighbor’s house, the guests are licensees. Unlike invitees, property owners do not have to inspect their property as diligently for hazards and other unsafe conditions.
Finally, a trespasser is a person who enters the owner’s property without the owner’s permission. Rather than proactively searching for hazards, property owners owe a trespasser only a duty not to intentionally or recklessly injure him. Keep in mind that if a child enters the property because of an attractive nuisance, additional precautions must be in place. An attractive nuisance for our purposes could be a swimming pool.
Being Mindful of the Deadline to File a Premises Liability Claim
In the aftermath of suffering an injury, it is normal to go through a period of recovery and rehabilitation. However, resting for an indeterminate period without pursuing a legal case against a property owner or operator is a mistake. Pennsylvania law requires an injury victim to file a lawsuit against the at-fault property owner within two years of the injury having occurred. This is known as a statute of limitations.
The Four Elements of a Successful Premises Liability Case
Just because a person has been injured on the property of another person does not mean that the property owner is necessarily responsible for those injuries. Negligence must be proved for a claim to be successful.
Negligence is the failure to act with reasonable care in a situation where a similarly situated person would have done so. There are four parts to proving negligence in a premises liability case:
- It must be proven that the property owner owed a duty of care towards the person who was injured on their property. Whether the injured person was an invitee, licensee, or trespasser will go a long way towards answering this question.
- If a duty of care was owed, the next question is whether it was breached. Did the property owner know or should have known about a dangerous condition on their property, yet failed to act and fix the problem? A broken step that should have been fixed, or a slippery floor that could have been mopped but wasn’t, are examples of potential breaches of the duty of care.
- The breach of that duty of care must have been a direct cause of injuries suffered by another person. A clear-cut, well-defined link must be provided for the injury victim.
- Finally, damages must have resulted from the property owner’s negligent act. Economic damages include lost wages and medical bills. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering.
Contact an Experienced Montgomery County Premises Liability Lawyer Today
For a free case review, contact Anthony C. Gagliano, III, Esquire, P.C, a Montgomery County Premises Liability lawyer. Our team of legal professionals serves clients injured in accidents at restaurants and stores.