Philadelphia Premises Liability Attorneys
Premises Liability and Slip and Fall Accidents
Pennsylvania premises liability law protects persons injured on property owned or controlled by another. In Pennsylvania when you visit the property or premises of another person or business entity and you are harmed by an unsafe condition or hazard, you may have a right to recover financial compensation. Premises liability and slip and fall cases are based upon negligence theories. Slip and falls and premises liability accidents frequently occur in hotels, homes, parking lots, casinos, cruise ships, stores, or other business establishments. If you are attending another individual's or corporation's business establishments conducting business with the owner or operator at the time of a slip and fall or premises accident, you are owed the highest duty of care. If you are injured while on the premises of another, without that person's permission, you are owed a lesser duty of care.
The experienced Philadelphia premises liability law firm of The Beasley Reiff Law Group have handled thousands of premises liability and slip and fall cases and have an outstanding track record of success. As a matter of fact, some of our largest recoveries, awards, settlements, and verdicts in the multi-million dollar range have involved slip and fall and premises liability claims. At The Beasley Reiff Law Group, our Pennsylvania trial attorneys who handle premises liability cases will carefully determine what type of duty of care is owed to the injured claimant by the owner or principle who operate the property. Establishing the status of the injured person at the time of the accident may make the biggest difference in the world between winning and losing your premises liability claim. For example, if you visit a store just to do window shopping but not purchase anything, you are still considered a business invitee and owed the highest duty of care under the law. Other examples of business invitee's who are owed the highest duty by the owner or operator of the premises may include construction workers, banking customer, delivery persons, perspective clients, perspective tenants, and salesman.
In the last 50 years, the skilled Pennsylvania slip and fall accident attorneys of The Beasley Reiff Law Group have been awarded on behalf of injured consumers and victims in excess of $2 billion dollars. Many times a slip and fall accident can produce a serious injury with painful consequences such as spinal cord damage, brain injury, broken bones, dislocated joints, paraplegia, quadriplegia, implantation of plates and rods, and the recovery for these injuries may require an extensive rehabilitation process requiring the injured victim to take extensive time off from work and undergo painful and extensive medical procedures. Many of the resulting disabilities can be permanent resulting in loss of earning capacity. Unfortunately, many serious premises liability cases result in death to the victim. An owner or possessor of property in Pennsylvania has a duty to exercise reasonable care to maintain a premises in a safe condition for the contemplated use and purpose and give a warning of a dangerous condition on the premises. A building owner, therefore, may be liable for failing to maintain the premises in a safe condition or warn of potential hidden dangers which were known or should have been known by making a reasonable inspection. In many cases, the owner possessor of the property will not be liable for an injury if the condition that causes the injury is open and obvious. In other words, if the condition is apparent to a person exercising normal intelligence, judgment, or perception.
The skilled Philadelphia premises liability accident lawyers of The Beasley Reiff Law Group will be able to determine whether the owner or possessor of the property may still be liable for an open and obvious danger and whether the owner or possessor of the property may still be liable for an open and obvious danger and when the owner and operator of the property should have anticipated harm despite the obviousness of the danger. The possessor or owner of the property in Pennsylvania who holds his property up for business purposes may even be liable for harmful acts committed by other people on the property. For an injured person to recovery compensation, the owner of a property must have had sufficient notice of a condition on the property and failed to take corrective measures.
The Pennsylvania premises slip and fall lawyers of The Beasley Reiff Law Group will seek to prove actual constructive notice of whether the owner or possessor created a dangerous condition upon the premises. Premises liability claims can arise from many different kinds of accidents. For example, a case may arise from: faulty doors, falling objects, improperly waxed floors, wet floors, slippery substance upon floors, faulty floor mats, improper glass at an entrance or exit, ice and snow, inadequate lighting, inadequate stairwells, worn steps, missing handrails, improper store displays, cluttered supermarket isles, construction accident sites, and many others.
Our experienced premises liability lawyers in Pennsylvania will be able to determine whether a viable claim for injury was caused by the owner or possessor's negligence. Winter time temperatures in Pennsylvania result in frequent snow and ice storms. Municipalities, including Philadelphia, require owners and tenants to clear a path not less than 30 inches within six hours after snow ceases to fall. Failure to shovel and clear a path can result in a slip and fall accident where bones are broken and permanent disabilities remain. Slip and falls and premises liability cases also occur by failure to install handicap ramps, warning signs, or have sufficient lighting in stair wells or hallways.
Falls involving poor maintenance are common in hotels and restaurants. Guests can be injured in showers, bathtubs, or on floors that are no longer slip resistant. Architectural defects involving impure or improper drainage can cause a buildup of ice on sidewalks, steps, or walkways. Our law firm is currently representing an individual who broke her back and is paralyzed as a result of an improper drainage system and we have recovered multiple million dollar results in similar cases. Premises liability accidents may also involve the failure to remove dead trees which may fall, striking a pedestrian or passing motor vehicle. In one of our renowned premises liability cases, a gust of wind caused branches to come loose from a tree falling down on our client's loved one and crushing him to death. In another case, a sign became detached because of a high gust of wind and killed an innocent pedestrian in its path who was innocently passing by.
Another area of concern regarding premises liability claims involves inadequate security. Issues with inadequate and negligent security in Philadelphia are present when a victim is assaulted, raped, or even killed in apartment complex, hotel or motel parking garage, or other business location. The safety and privacy of guests, tenants, and residents should be a top priority for owners and operators of hotels, apartment homes, and businesses. Inadequate security and premises liability cases often occur due to poor lighting and lack of easily affordable technology and security devices such as close circuit television cameras. The Philadelphia premises liability lawyers at The Beasley Reiff Law Group have successfully represented the families of individuals of inadequate security claims where the victim has been killed, raped, stabbed, or assaulted due to the failure of a property owner to maintained proper security.
Our Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers will carefully investigate the facts surrounding the premises liability claim by utilizing the best accident reconstructionist, engineers, architects, and other experts to prove the negligence of the property owner. The experienced premises liability lawyers of The Beasley Reiff Law Group have handled thousands of premises liability cases since 1957. Our skilled catastrophic injury and wrongful death lawyers have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars on behalf of injured victims and their families. Injured victims and their families need the skill, experience, and knowledge of attorneys who know how to proceed in handling premises liability claims from investigation through case discovery and trial. The Beasley Reiff Law Group premises liability lawyers understand the importance of obtaining the right liability and medical experts necessary to prove the essential elements of a premises liability claim. We understand from our experience the elements necessary to prove that owners or properties knew or should have known that a hazardous condition was present on the premises.
If you or a loved one has sustained a serious injury or lost a loved one as the result of a defect or hazard on someone else's property, please feel free to contact one of The Beasley Reiff Law Group's experienced Philadelphia wrongful death lawyers and experts for a free, confidential, no obligation consultation toll free at 800-588-0130.
