How a Premises Liability Lawyer Can Help

A person should consult with an experienced premises liability attorney when constructing a case because there are so many elements to a premises liability claim that someone who does not do premises liability cases will not know. Those things involve, first and foremost, establishing your status as a visitor on that property. Then determining the legal duty of care that was owed, what the dangerous condition was, whether there was notice of the defendants, what injuries were related to the case, and what economic damages have been sustained.

Initial Consultation

At the initial meeting, when someone is meeting with their premises liability attorneys, their lawyers are going to want to know what happened, where it happened, why someone was on the property, what their damages are, what injuries they have sustained, what is going on with their job, what is going on with their medical bills, and who is paying for their medical treatment.

Then, once they are able to get all that information, they will then begin their investigation into what happened and that starts with sending out letters to the defendants and the insurance companies to let them know what is going on and what information attorneys need. A lot of times a lawyer will want to preserve evidence as soon as possible which can be done at the initial meeting.

They will then draft an spoliation of evidence letter that will go out to the commercial defendants or the residential defendants to preserve any and all evidence that they have relating to this premises liability claim because attorneys often see that photographs are destroyed, video recordings of the incident are destroyed, or incident reports do not exist anymore. They want to make sure that those things are preserved to help them in proving the case down the road.

Elements of a Claim

The most important things that a person should know about premises liability are the three different elements that need to be proven before there is a successful claim.

• What the dangerous condition is, and establishing that a dangerous condition existed at that property
• Depending on someone’s status as a visitor at that property, if the defendant had notice of that dangerous condition
• What the damages are that have resulted from this dangerous condition

Those damages are both economic, like lost wages and medical bills as well as non-economic, which is pain and suffering and the overall impact that the injuries have had on someone’s life.

Avoiding Insurance Companies

Whenever someone is involved with a premises liability claim, their attorney will always recommend that they do not speak to the defendant or their insurance company after the incident. And sometimes, someone’s insurance companies will try to call the person who is injured and take recorded statements. It is preferable if someone’s attorney speaks to the companies. The best thing someone can do is avoid talking to them because they never know how they are going to try to twist or construe their statements.

Contacting an Attorney

When you are looking for a premises liability attorney in New Jersey, you want to look for an attorney who has the experience in handling those cases and has the proven results in handling those cases. Our New Jersey attorneys have handled hundreds, where they have gotten results for their clients and that is what you want to look for. You may want to look for an attorney that has a proven track record of being able to handle these claims and who has handled them successfully.