Premises liability is the idea that property owners—which includes people who lease property and control access to it—are responsible for ensuring visitors’ safety. An owner could be legally responsible for paying compensation to someone who suffered an injury on their property.
If you were hurt while away from home, speak to a Connecticut premises liability lawyer at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC. If the property owner’s carelessness or recklessness contributed to the injury, you could pursue compensation for your losses through a personal injury lawsuit.
Premises liability law can be complex. An owner is not automatically responsible for every injury that happens to someone else on their property. Whether an owner is liable depends on why the injured person was on their property and whether the owner knew a dangerous condition existed.
The law requires property owners to make efforts to keep invitees safe. You’re an invitee if you’re a customer or potential customer or if you enter property that’s open to the public, like a park. Connecticut General Statutes § 52-557a says that social guests also are invitees.
When a property is open for invitees, the owner must inspect for hazards regularly and correct dangerous conditions when they find them. If they can’t correct a dangerous condition immediately, they must warn about the hazard and prevent the invitee from accessing the area.
Licensees are people who enter property with permission. If you work as a delivery driver, mail carrier, meter reader, line worker, or landscaper, you are a licensee when you enter someone’s property to carry out your duties.
A property owner must warn you about a hazardous condition they know about if it isn’t something you would notice. They have no obligation to warn you of obvious dangers.
Anyone who enters a property without the owner’s permission is a trespasser. Owners generally have no obligation to a trespasser who gets hurt on their property. However, there is one important exception to this rule.
When property contains a feature that could be attractive to children but dangerous—like a pool, trampoline, treehouse, barn, or even an abandoned car—the property owner could be liable if a child trespasses and gets hurt. Property owners must prevent curious children from gaining access to potentially dangerous features. Contact a Connecticut premises liability attorney at our firm if your child got hurt while trespassing on someone else’s property.
Premises liability covers a range of dangers. There are many ways you could get hurt on someone else’s property. If the owner did not uphold their responsibility, you could bring a civil claim against them.
Our premises liability lawyers regularly represent people in Connecticut who suffer injuries in the following ways, by way of some examples:
Any incident that happened on someone else’s property and led to a preventable injury could be the basis of a premises liability claim.
You could also have a premises liability claim if you were the victim of a crime while on someone else’s property. Business owners must take reasonable steps to protect their customers and visitors from criminal activity. A proactive attorney at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, could investigate a specific incident to determine whether there were effective and cost-efficient steps an owner could have implemented to deter crime and prevent criminals from targeting you.
Injured people have two years from the incident date to file a lawsuit seeking compensation from a property owner. Missing the deadline could mean the injured person receives nothing.
Sometimes, an injured person must act very quickly to preserve a claim. For example, if you fall in an icy town parking lot, you have only 90 days to notify the municipality of your claim. Or, if you get crushed by the doors of an elevator in a public housing development, you must notify the housing authority of your claim within six months.
To preserve all your possible claims, consult a Connecticut unsafe premises attorney at our firm immediately after the incident if possible. Reaching out quickly allows our legal professionals to get pictures or videos of the dangerous condition before the owner fixes or changes it. They can interview witnesses while their memories are fresh and start negotiations with the owner’s insurer as soon as you are fully recovered.
When a property owner did not warn you of danger and a preventable accident happened, you deserve justice. Talk to a Connecticut premises liability lawyer about whether you have grounds to bring a legal claim.
The attorneys at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, are dedicated to helping people who suffered injuries in accidents. We offer free, no-obligation, in-person and remote consultations. Schedule yours today.
