Premises Liability Cases and How Lawsuit Funding Can Help

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Fast Lawsuit Team

Were you hurt or injured while you are on another person’s property? Did you hurt your back from a slip and fall incident at the mall? Were you bitten by a neighbor’s dog while you were visiting? Were you injured due to an accident in an amusement park? Then you can file a premises liability lawsuit to claim for compensation for your personal injuries.

Premises Liability

If someone owns or maintains a piece of property (such as a house and lot, a mall, an amusement park or similar other properties), they are liable for any injuries another person incurs while he is on that property. The liability will also extend to public sidewalks that are right in front of the property and is used for access. Premises liability covers both private property (such as a home) and public property (such as a mall, an amusement park or even a government property).

A property owner is considered liable if he has been negligent in ensuring that his property is a safe environment. This is referred to in law as “duty of care”.  A property owner’s duty of care depends on the category of the person injured, whether he is an invitee, a licensee or a trespasser.

Invitees.  In a word, these are customers, people who enter the property for the property owner’s commercial benefit. Property owners are required to issue warnings for hazardous conditions (i.e. “Slippery when wet.”) as well as provide protection against such hazardous conditions.

Licensees. These are people who are given implied or express permission to enter the property, although the reasons for entry are not for the property owner’s commercial benefit. For licensees, liability exists when:

-          There was no reasonable care on the property owner’s part to make sure that the property was safe.

-          The property owner failed to warn the licensee of the unsafe condition.

-          There existed an unreasonable risk of harm to the licensee and that the licensee had no had no way to discover that danger.

Trespassers. This pertains to people who enter the property without the property owner’s permission (whether implied or expressed). Trespassers enter the property not for the owner’s benefit but for their own purposes.

Each state varies on the level of duty of care and liability linked to these three categories.

Types of premises liability

By its nature, premises liability covers a lot of instances. These include:

-          Slip and fall accidents, where the injury is due to someone tripping or slipping due to slippery or uneven flooring or because something caused the fall (i.e. a banana peel or a bottle of mineral water). Other factors include poor lighting and broken handrails and stairs.

-          Burn injuries, where the fire should have been preventable.

-          Animal attack, where pets or animals kept on the property injured visitors or passers-by.

-          Accidental drowning, where the drowning resulted from a failure to place adequate safety measures (i.e. indicators of the depth of the pool, warning against trespassers, a secured gate, etc.)

-          Assault, where the property owner failed to provide adequate security.

Premises liability also includes injuries due to faulty equipment such as escalators and elevators.

Claiming For Premises Liability

If you are a victim of an accident due to a property owner’s negligence and failure to provide the necessary safety measures, you can seek compensation through a premises liability lawsuit. With this, you can claim for the following:

-          Medical expenses (both present and future). This includes doctor’s bills, hospital bills and medication.

-          Loss of wages, or eventually loss of job

-          Physical therapy expenses

-          Expenses related to adaptive equipment or special aides

-          Pain and suffering

Filing a lawsuit will not be easy. There will be court-related costs that you will need to shoulder, even if you get a lawyer on a contingency basis. Also, as your lawsuit is being heard, you will need to ensure that you are financial stable. There will still be bills to be paid, a family who needs food on the table and a roof over their heads. Your financial situation will be more problematic due to the fact that you also have medical bills to pay as well. And the injury may have resulted in loss of wages, or if it is catastrophic enough, the loss of your job.

Lawsuit Funding for Ready Cash

During this difficult time, it will be helpful to consider applying for lawsuit funding to help tide you over while you are waiting for the case to be settled. Lawsuit funding provides you with quick and ready cash to pay for your medical bills, living expenses, and other needs.

The great thing about lawsuit funding (or lawsuit loan as some may call it) is that it is not based on your credit rating or your employment status. Rather your application will be reviewed based on the strength of your case.

The important thing is you go with a lawsuit settlement funding provider that you can trust, such as FastLawsuitMoney.com. FastLawsuitMoney.com has been helping premises liability complainants by providing a simplified applications process. Once approved, you can get the funding within 24 hours. Because of this, you are able to negotiate and fight for a fair and just settlement for the injuries you have incurred.