Gloucester County Premises Liability Lawyer

Premises liability law typically comes into play when a person becomes injured on property owned by another person. Injuries sustained in this manner could be especially frustrating if the property owner failed to properly maintain their property or neglected to warn a guest of any known dangers in order to prevent injuries in the first place. A well-versed Gloucester County premises liability lawyer could help demonstrate that the property owner acted inappropriately and that their negligent actions were the direct cause of a sustained injury.

Contact an experienced Gloucester County personal injury attorney who could help identify different legal strategies. Proceeding to court without the guidance of an attorney could prevent you from succeeding in court. Make an appointment with us today to discuss a potential claim.

What Is Premises Liability In Gloucester County?

Generally, the right to recover damages stemming from an injury sustained on another person’s property depends on why the individual was on the property in the first place. In other words, it may depend on a person’s “status” at the time of the injury. In Gloucester County, a person’s status may include:

• A business invitee is a person who was invited onto the premises for the owner’s financial gain (i.e., a customer in a store)
• A licensee is a social guest who has consent to be on the property but is generally there for his or her own purposes
• A trespasser is a person who enters the property without consent

The lines between these three categories of visitors are not always clear. An experienced Gloucester County premises liability attorney could evaluate the case and the surrounding circumstances to argue for a heightened duty of care on the part of the property owner.

Gloucester County Standard of Care for Premises Liability Cases

In Gloucester County, the duty of a property owner to others who enter the property depends on the status of the individual. Specifically, the State of New Jersey may employ a negligence-based standard in which all parties are generally required to act reasonably in order to avoid injuries. A Gloucester County premises liability lawyer could help someone understand the basic standards that may apply to his or her case.

In some cases, both parties may be partially at fault for an accident in Gloucester County under the umbrella of premises liability law. A comparative negligence standard could be used to determine the relative fault of each party. Depending on how fault is allocated, the amount of compensatory damages to which the injured party could receive may be reduced.

Invitees and Licensees

If an injured person was a business invitee, the property owner typically owes them the highest duty of care. Not only may the owner have a duty to take reasonable steps to avoid dangers—for example, slippery floors in a retail store—he or she commonly must also conduct reasonable inspections to discover potentially dangerous conditions. If the owner does not, a slip and fall incident could happen. The property owner has a lesser duty toward a licensee but still may have the duty to warn him or her of any known dangerous conditions of which the guest would otherwise be unaware.

Trespassers

The lowest standard of care applies to trespassers. The property owner generally has no duty to make the property safe for trespassers. However, he or she must typically warn of any artificial conditions that could cause injury, especially if he or she created those conditions and could reasonably be expected to draw trespassers onto the property. For example, a swimming hole created by a property owner could be expected to attract teenagers or other interested parties.

Contact A Gloucester Premises Liability Attorney’s Help

A Gloucester County premises liability lawyer may help a person who was injured on another person’s property and believes that the property owner may have failed to exercise reasonable care that could have prevented their injuries. Schedule an appointment to discuss the incident surrounding your case.