Premises Liability: Part I

Tactics of a Plaintiff's Attorney

Premises liability in California imposes a legal duty on businesses and property owners to maintain reasonably safe conditions on their premises for lawful visitors. If they fail to do so and someone gets injured due to a dangerous condition, the injured party (plaintiff) can file a premises liability claim against the business or property owner (defendant) to seek compensation for damages.

To establish premises liability, the plaintiff must prove:

1. The defendant owned, leased, occupied, or controlled the property.
2. The defendant was negligent in failing to use reasonable care in maintaining the property, either by causing a dangerous condition or failing to address/warn about it.
3. The plaintiff was harmed.
4. The defendant's negligence was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff's harm.

?

Businesses can raise several defenses against premises liability claims:

1. Lack of notice: The business had no actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition.?Constructive knowledge means they should have known through reasonable inspections.
2. Comparative negligence: The plaintiff's own negligence contributed to the accident, reducing the defendant's liability proportionately under California's comparative negligence rules.
3. Assumption of risk: The plaintiff knowingly and voluntarily assumed the risk of the dangerous condition.
4. Statute of limitations: The plaintiff failed to file the claim within the time limit set by California law.
5. Government immunity: For government-owned properties, certain immunities may limit liability.

?

Interview with plaintiff’s attorney Jason Aldridge: His Strategies and Tactics

Key targets/situations that trigger suits according to Jason:

·?????? Stores

·?????? Construction sites- plaintiff was traveling through a site

·?????? Falling object strikes a person in an establishment

?

?Jason’s Initial Investigation Seeks to Document:

·?????? How did it happen?

·?????? What happen?

·?????? What happened because it happened?

·?????? What was the injured person’s relationship to the property? Different relationships are afforded different levels of duty by the property owner:

o?? Trespasser

o?? Invitee

o?? Licensee

·?????? What was the mechanism of injury:

o?? Trip & falls

o?? Slip & falls – involves a liquid

o?? Catchall – address for example falling objects

Example: Customer in a store slips on a spilled drink that a customer in from of her spilled. It is important for the stores to determine:

·?????? How long the liquid was left on the floor.

·?????? Could the store have reasonably discovered it and cured it.

Plaintiff Attorney Tactic:

·?????? Setting The Scene: The attorney will walk the alleged injured party frame by frame from before the injury and then through the injury.

·?????? What did you see, smell and feel? Who was there?

How does a plaintiff’s attorney decide to take a case?

·?????? More significant injuries.

·?????? Do they have enough evidence to prove the claim.

?Defenses for a Premises Liability Case:

·?????? What shoes were you wearing?

·?????? How fast were you going?

·?????? What items did you have in your hands?

?

Human Factors Expert – Used to Assist the plaintiff’s Attorney:

·?????? Grocery Store – Food marketing/signage is designed to capture attention. The more popular items are at chest to shoulder height which can pull a customer’s eyesight away from items that may be on the ground - spilled drink or an obstacle. The plaintiff's attorney stressed - the objective of the signage was to life the eyesight up. Many times surveillance will capture this for the plaintiffs side.

·?????? The objective was to establish liability on the part of the store; marketing causes the customer to divert their attention that would normally have allowed them to see spill/obstacle and avoid the injury.

Part II - coming soon.

?

?

?

?