Cobb County Premises Liability Lawyer

If you have suffered an injury because of a hazardous condition on someone else’s property, you may be able to recover compensation for your losses through a premises liability lawsuit. Premises liability cases arise from many different circumstances.

If you have been injured on someone else’s property and you believe that the property owner’s negligence is to blame, help from a Cobb County premises liability lawyer could be important to understanding your rights and deciding what to do next. A compassionate personal injury attorney could help you examine the facts of your case to help you decide whether you have a viable claim.

Proving Negligence in Premises Liability Cases

When a business induces or leads someone to come onto its property, it may be responsible for injuries sustained if it did not take ordinary care to keep the property safe. To prove a breach of this duty, the law requires evidence that the property owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazardous condition. Actual knowledge includes issues that were actually observed or otherwise known. Constructive knowledge includes issues that a person should have known. These issues could include:

  • Badly maintained sidewalks or parking lots;
  • Water or other fluids left on a floor from a spill or leak;
  • Poorly lit or badly maintained stairwells;
  • Malfunctioning elevators or escalators;
  • Inadequate food safety;
  • Inadequate or overly aggressive security;
  • Pool or park accidents; or
  • Poorly maintained rental property.

Like any claim based on negligence, a premises liability case will rest on whether the property owner acted reasonably. The law looks to the owner’s practices in determining reasonableness. A business is acting reasonably if it regularly makes thorough efforts to keep its property safe and clean. On the other hand, a business may not be acting reasonably if it, for example, regularly ignores a persistent problem or makes no effort to fix a new problem. An experienced personal injury could explain how the reasonableness standard applies to a case.

Applicable Laws in Cobb County

Most premises liability cases will involve a claim of negligence against the property owner. This requires the injured party to show that the property owner had a duty to prevent the type of hazard. Although property owners are generally responsible for keeping their property safe, the exact standard to which he or she can be held will depend on several factors.

The highest duty of care is for invitees, which Georgia Code section 51-3-1 defines as persons whom a property owner induces to come onto the premises by “express or implied invitation.” For invitees, liability extends to injuries caused by a failure to take ordinary care to keep the premises and entryways to it safe. Just a few examples of invitees to whom this level of care applies to include customers at a store, rental tenants, hotel guests, hospital patients, concert-goers, and airline passengers. Generally, anyone who legally enters property for a reason that benefits the property owner is considered an invitee.

Property owners owe lower levels of care to licensees (people who are on the property for their own purposes and not for the benefit of the property owner) and trespassers (people who are on the property without permission). It can be much more difficult to establish liability in these situations, but a Cobb County premises liability lawyer could help.

Contact a Cobb County Premises Liability Attorney

A skilled Cobb County premises liability lawyer could investigate your case, assess its strengths, and advise about actions you can take to pursue fair and just compensation for your injuries. An attorney could be an invaluable ally throughout the legal process.

Because time limits apply to these and most other cases, getting legal assistance from a local lawyer as soon as possible can be critically important. Call to set up an initial consultation today.