Premises Liability

When you get hurt on another’s property...

 

Injuries which result from defects or dangerous conditions in or on real property (stores, houses, apartments, swimming pools, golf courses, recreational facilities, etc) can be the basis of a premises liability claim.
 

Texas law provides that landowners owe particular duties to different types of visitors:
 

• Invitees – They enter premises with the owner’s knowledge for mutual benefit, for instance customers or hotel guests. Landowners owe invitees the highest degree of care.

• Licensee – They enter another’s property for convenience, pleasure, or benefit with the implied permission of the owner, for instance, a dinner guest.

• Trespassers – They enter premises without right, authority, or permission. The landowner owes the trespasser only a minimal duty.

 

It is extremely difficult for the second and third types of visitors, licensees or trespassers, to recover damages. For an invitee to prevail, he or she must establish that there was an unreasonably dangerous condition on the property, that the person or entity in control of the premises knew of or should have know of such unreasonably dangerous condition in time to have warned about it or fixed it, that the unreasonably dangerous condition caused an injury or death, damages resulted from the injury or death, and the guilty party must have the ability to pay the damages.  That is why it is important to retain a board certified lawyer to help you to navigate your rights.