Proving that you deserve compensation due to unsafe or defective conditions on someone’s property can be tricky. Like most personal injury cases, premises liability lawsuits involve proving negligence. So, how do you prove premises liability in Wisconsin? If you think you’ve got a case, here are some basic concepts you’ll want to know.
What Is Premises Liability?
This is the liability of a property owner when an injury happens on his/her property that was caused by some type of unsafe or defective condition on the property that is directly related to the injury and the property.
For instance, if you slip and fall on someone’s property because they have not properly iced their sidewalks or because their walkways are cluttered with debris, the owner of that property can be held liable for your damages.
Premises liability accidents can happen just about anywhere, such as at hotels, in parking lots, in stores, business buildings, hospitals, parks, and even at private residences.
Proving Fault
Whether property is commercial or private, owners and occupiers have a legal duty to maintain their property to ensure that those who enter the property are protected from an unreasonable risk of injury. This is because owners have control over the condition (and therefore safety) of their property while while those who are just visiting do not.
To prove a premises liability claim, you must be able to show that at the time of the injury you were using the property normally. For instance, if you are injured after jumping into a water fountain or sledding off of a roof, the owner of the property is not likely to be held liable for your injuries.
Determining Liability
In order to prove that a property owner is liable for your injuries, you will need to prove at least one of the following:
- The property owner or occupant caused the dangerous condition.
- The property owner or occupant was aware of the condition and did not take action to fix it.
- The property owner or occupant should have been aware of the dangerous condition on the property because any reasonable person taking care of the property would have.
Obviously, the question here is negligence, which is a failure to take proper care in doing something. If you can prove negligence on the part of the property owner or occupant, you can win your case.
If you have been injured on someone else’s property through no fault of your own, call a Milwaukee personal injury lawyer with Gebhard Law Office today for a free consultation regarding a personal injury lawsuit. Services offered on a contingency basis, so you don’t pay unless you win.