Galveston Premises Liability Lawyer

With all the places you visit on a weekly basis, you might not know the owners have a legal obligation to keep you safe from hazards. Property owners may have to compensate you if you slip on a spill in the grocery store, trip over bunched carpeting, or are assaulted in the hall of your apartment.

Premises liability can be complicated since owners owe different duties of care to different kinds of visitors. Our seasoned personal injury attorneys could discuss your options based on your status as a visitor in this situation. Call a Galveston premises liability lawyer if you are hurt on someone else’s property and need to hold the owner accountable for your financial losses.

Trespassers and Premises Liability

State law recognizes three classes of visitors: trespassers, invitees, and licensees. The status of the visitor determines their compensation rights no matter where they are, including in Jamaica Beach, Tiki Island, and Galveston Island.

Trespassers are on someone’s property without permission. Owners cannot shoot at or harm adult trespassers, but they owe them nothing more in regards to safety. However, they owe child trespassers a duty of safety because they are too young to understand the dangers. Children are often attracted to conditions that could harm them, called attractive nuisances, such as junkyards, swimming pools, creeks, and auto salvage yards. When a child is injured by an attractive nuisance that the property owner should have known about, a Galveston premises liability attorney could seek justice.

Invited Visitors

Visitors making social calls are identified as licensees, and they deserve protection from harm. Property owners must advise licensees about known hazards, whether the owner created them or they occurred naturally. Owners are most obliged to invitees, who are usually customers to a commercial establishment. Owners must protect invitees against known dangers and take action to identify and address any dangers.

Negligent Security

Negligent security is a form of premises liability. It refers to a commercial owner who fails to provide adequate safety measures, especially in areas known for crime, and a visitor is assaulted or suffers some other loss. Failing to install proper lighting along walkways, maintain security cameras, keep shrubbery from blocking isolated areas, or provide security guards in places amenable to criminals can make an owner liable for compensation if a visitor is harmed.

Premises Liability is Based on Negligence

Property owners are expected to safeguard all visitors except adult trespassers. When their actions or inactions fall below what a reasonable person would do in a similar environment, and a visitor is hurt because of it, that visitor may be entitled to compensation for the impact of economic and non-economic losses. Premises liability in Galveston is based on negligence and a lawyer could advise on how to prove it.

Compensation

Economic losses are those the injured party must pay because of the injuries, such as medical bills. Non-economic losses are emotional, mental, and psychological ones. If the case goes to court, the jury decides how much disfigurement, pain, and loss of interaction with the family is worth, although an aggressive premises liability attorney can fight for the maximum damages available.

Learn How Our Galveston Premises Liability Attorney Champions Your Claim

Not every place you visit in a given day will keep you safe from injury. Sometimes property owners are negligent and let security measures go until someone is attacked. Or a store owner leaves a mess on the floor for hours until a customer slips and falls. Your child may even be lured to your neighbor’s backyard swimming pool because the gate is always unlocked.

When you or your child are hurt on someone else’s property because the owner was negligent, that owner should compensate you for your medical bills and the psychological and emotional damage done. Let a Galveston premises liability lawyer help you with your case. Schedule a consultation today with Schechter, Shaffer & Harris.