Slip and fall accidents tend to be dismissed by many as a simple case of someone ‘slipping on a banana peel’ in an aisle at the grocery store. In reality, slip and fall cases can and do involve serious injuries and even fatalities. When these situations arise, there are steps involved with determining liability. Below you’ll find a basic overview of this analysis, but rather than attempt to handle this complicated area of law by yourself, you should seek the assistance of an Phoenixpremises liability lawyer.
Premises Liability – Determining Your Legal Status
The first step that’s usually taken when attempting to determine liability in a slip and fall case is to define the legal status of the person who has been injured. The law provides for these statuses, and they are generally as follows:
Invitee – An invitee is someone who will enter the premises of another for the purpose of conducting business. These people are afforded protection from unsafe conditions that they would not obviously discover on their own.
Licensee – A licensee is someone who is given either direct or indirect permission to enter someone else’s property for non-business purposes. Licensees are also provided with a high level of protection, but unlike invitees, this status has an intangible expiration at which time this high level of protection ends.
Trespasser – A trespasser is someone who does not have permission to enter someone else’s property, and few if any protections are afforded them if they are injured.
Premises Liability – Determining Fault
After the injured person’s status has been defined, the next step is usually deciding how or if the property owner or manager is at fault for the injuries that occurred. Basically, property owners/managers have a duty to protect the public from dangerous conditions on their property or to clearly warn them if these dangers cannot be removed. Failing to take these steps could lead to liability on the part of those in charge of that property, but the amount of liability involved will depend on the facts of the situation.
If you or someone you love has been harmed on the property of someone else, contact the Arizona premises liability lawyers at Phillips Law Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.
