Premises Liability Lawyer California

Premises Liability includes slip and falls, trip and falls, and other personal injury accidents on property that occur due to a dangerous condition. Our firm has obtained millions of dollars for our clients who have suffered a premises liability accident. If you have suffered a slip and fall call us at 800-816-1529.

Premises Liability injury accidents due to dangerous conditions on public or private property can happen suddenly and result in serious injury or death. All you have for protection is what you are wearing.

• If you have already been in a Slip and Fall accident in the State of California, we highly recommend that you stop reading right now, and call our law firm for a free telephone consultation at (800) 816-1529, Ext. 1. We will tell you over the telephone if we think that you have a case and whether we can help you.
• If we believe we can help you, and you decide to retain us, we can sign you up electronically through your smart phone, tablet, or computer.
• If you do not have medical insurance or a medical provider, we can immediately refer you to an appropriate doctor near you who will treat you without you having to pay money out of your pocket for medical treatment. (Yes, even if you do not have medical insurance)
• Yes, this can all be accomplished with one phone call to our law firm. We try to make the process as simple as possible for you.

Attorney for Premises Liability in California

You are entitled to reasonable care and safety while on the property of another individual. In California, landowners are generally required to protect you from obvious and hidden dangers, such as property defects that could result in a slip-and-fall or other serious incidents. If you or a loved one were recently injured in a premises-related accident, please contact The Law Office of Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates for a free consultation with a qualified California premises liability attorney. 800-816-1529 or click here. One or more parties may be responsible for compensating you and your family for your losses.

Why Choose Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates for Your Premises Liability Claim?

• Our law firm has a history of success, having obtained millions of dollars for our clients since its founding.
• Our attorneys believe that accident victims should not be required to travel for hours in order to obtain quality legal representation.
• Our law firm operates on a contingency fee basis for all premises liability clients, which means you will not be required to pay us a fee unless we secure an award on your behalf from the defendant.
• We have meeting locations throughout the state of California to serve your legal needs.

What Does Premises Liability Entail?

If you are injured on the property of another person in California, premises liability laws will govern your case. Premises liability refers to a property owner’s legal obligation to care for and maintain a property.

Legally, California property owners must take reasonable precautions to maintain safe premises. This is the level of care that a prudent property owner would employ in a similar situation. If a property owner fails in this regard, that is, if he or she does not exercise the necessary degree of care, he or she will be financially liable for any injuries that result.

How an Attorney for Premises Liability in California Can Help

If you do not have a legal background or a history of litigating premises liability cases in California, you may not know the best way to fight for fair compensation from property owners and their insurers. A local attorney from The Law Office of Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates who has experience representing clients in claims of premises liability will be able to assist you. If you suffered catastrophic or life-altering injuries, or if a loved one perished in a premises-related accident, your California premises liability attorney can advocate for just compensation. An attorney can provide you with answers to your questions and peace of mind throughout all phases of your case.

We handle the following premises liability cases:

In California, premises liability law encompasses numerous types of accidents. Sadly, these incidents are relatively frequent. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, slip-and-fall incidents alone send over one million Americans to emergency rooms.

The California premises liability lawyers at The Law Office of Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates have decades of experience representing those injured by the negligence of property owners. We handle a variety of cases involving premises liability throughout California:

• Slip-and-fall accidents
• Animal attacks and dog bites
• Workplace accidents
• Amusement Park accidents
• Store or restaurant accidents
• Swimming pool accidents
• Child injuries
• Elevator and escalator accidents
• Negligent security
• Structural collapses
• Fires
• Toxic substance exposure

These are examples of accidents that frequently result in claims for premises liability. In California, you may have grounds for a claim following any type of accident caused by negligent property maintenance. Inadequate care and maintenance of a property by an irresponsible owner can result in a number of hazards and injury risks.

Laws of Premises Liability in California

According to Section 1714 of the California Civil Code, all parties are legally liable for the consequences of their lack of ordinary care or skill in the management of a property, as well as their intentional acts. The central provision of this law is “lack of ordinary care or skill.” This refers to the legal doctrine of negligence, which is at the heart of the vast majority of claims for premises liability.

Negligence refers to carelessness that causes injury to others. In premises liability law, a property owner’s negligence is typically defined as knowing that a property contained a hazard but failing to take the necessary steps to eliminate the danger. The property owner would be responsible for the victim’s injuries and losses in this scenario.

The doctrine of negligence and a party’s duty of care go hand in hand. The duty of care is the degree of care that a prudent and reasonable property owner would exercise in similar circumstances. Whether a property owner breached his or her duty of care depends on factors such as the foreseeability of the injury, whether the owner was aware of the defect, whether the owner contributed to the defect, and the owner’s duty to mitigate the risk.

Consult a local California premises liability attorney if you have any additional questions about California’s premises liability laws. 800-816-1529, or click here.

Who Can I Sue in California if I’m Injured on Someone Else’s Property?

According to California law, if you are injured on someone else’s property, you can generally hold the person, business, or organization in charge of the property liable. The defendant in your premises liability claim will vary depending on the circumstances. In most instances, the responsible party will be the owner, lessee, occupant, or controller of the property.

In your California premises liability case, the defendant could be:

• Your landlord
• A homeowner
• A business owner
• A company
• A tenant or renter
• A property management company
• A retailer
• A big-box store
• A restaurant
• An employee
• Multiple parties

In premises liability law, control over a property is usually sufficient to hold a party liable for an accident; the defendant need not have owned, occupied, and controlled the property in order to be held liable. The responsible party in your case will depend on the type of property, legal issues such as a rental agreement, whether you were at work at the time of your accident, and the defendant’s obligations of care to you. Consult a California premises liability attorney for more information.

When is a California Landowner Responsible for Accidents?

In California, property owners are not automatically responsible for injuries and accidents that occur on their premises. However, they owe high standards of care to the guests they invite to their properties. If you are an invited guest, the landowner is legally obligated to inspect the area for hidden dangers, repair any obvious property defects, and warn you of anything that could cause you harm. Failure to comply with these responsibilities could give rise to a liability claim if it results in an injury.

At the time of the incident, trespassing is a significant exception to California’s premises liability law. No duty of care is owed by property owners to trespassers, or individuals who enter their property without permission. However, if the trespasser was a minor under the age of 18, the landowner will still be responsible for maintaining the safety of the property. If your California injury attorney can establish that the property owner in question breached a duty of care owed to you and that this breach caused your injuries, you may be eligible for compensation.

How Does One Establish Premises Liability?

In California, your premises liability attorney must establish premises liability before you can successfully hold a property owner liable for your accident and recover damages. In all civil actions, the burden of proof falls on the injured party, or plaintiff. The plaintiff is responsible for proving that the defendant caused or failed to prevent the injury in question.

The burden of proof in a civil claim is a preponderance of the evidence: clear and convincing evidence establishing that the defendant is at least 51 percent responsible for the accident. Your California premises liability attorney will need to establish that the defendant is more likely than not responsible for your injuries and losses during a premises liability case.

Proving a premises liability case requires four main elements:

1. The defendant was the person or organization that owned or controlled the property at the time of the accident. This establishes that the party is the correct defendant and that it is his or her legal responsibility to maintain the property in a reasonable state of repair.
2. The defendant was negligent; he or she did not exercise the required level of care under the circumstances.
3. The defendant’s negligence was a direct or substantial cause of your injury. Your injury must have been caused by the defendant’s breach of duty of care. If another factor caused the accident or injury, the property owner will not be held responsible.
4. You sustained compensable damages due to the accident on the premises. Lastly, you must demonstrate that you were injured or harmed in the disputed accident. This may require medical bills, pay stubs, and photographs of your injuries as evidence.

A lawyer can assist you in proving your case by gathering evidence that may persuade the judge or jury to rule in your favor. Photographs, CCTV surveillance footage, statements from eyewitnesses, accident reports, medical records, letters from your doctor or employer, medical bills, pay stubs, and expert witness testimony may serve as evidence. A California premises liability lawyer can handle the preservation and presentation of evidence on your behalf.

Damages in Cases of Premises Liability

Depending on your status as a guest and the nature of your accident, the property owner will owe you varying degrees of care. The Law Office of Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates sees slip and fall accidents, escalator/elevator accidents, dog bites, swimming pool accidents, exposure to hazardous substances, burns from fires, electrocutions, and structural collapses as some of the most common premises liability accidents.

If you were injured in any of these accidents, you may have a case for negligence against the property owner and/or tenant of a rented property. Compensation available may include:

• Economic damages. These are the material, monetary, or out-of-pocket expenses associated with your premises liability accident. These may include current medical expenses, future medical treatments, physical therapy, rehabilitation, medications, lost wages, property repairs, legal fees, and travel expenses.
• Noneconomic damages. These are the accident’s intangible physical and psychological losses. You may be entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, trauma, inconvenience, lost quality of life, loss of consortium, scarring or disfigurement, among other things.
• Punitive damages. Rarely, a premises liability lawsuit may result in an award of punitive damages. Instead of compensating the victim, punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant for particularly wrong or negligent acts, such as gross negligence. Whether or not you receive punitive damages in a premises liability case is at the judge’s discretion.

In California, if you lost a loved one in a premises liability accident, you may be eligible for additional forms of compensation, such as funeral and burial expenses, lost future income and inheritance, and compensation for the loss of the victim’s love, support, and companionship.

Valuations of premises liability claims vary considerably based on their individual circumstances. The amount of compensation you receive may depend on the severity of your injuries, the length of your recovery, your income, your age, your health, the availability of insurance, and the defendant’s actions or behaviors. Discuss the possible worth of your case with your attorney. Call 800-816-1529 or click here.

Statute of Limitations for California Premises Liability

In California, all cases involving premises liability are governed by an important statute of limitations. This is the maximum amount of time allowed for a victim to file a lawsuit. It is imperative to adhere to the statute of limitations, as almost all cases brought after the deadline are dismissed. There are only a few rare exceptions to the rule.

The statute of limitations for premises liability cases in California is two years from the date of the accident (California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1). In most cases, you must file your claim within two years of the accident in order to have a valid lawsuit. If you did not discover your injury until a date subsequent to the date of the accident, the clock will begin to run on the date of discovery. Discuss your accident as soon as possible with an attorney to ensure you meet the filing deadline.

Consult a California Premises Liability Lawyer Today

The attorneys at The Law Office of Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates may be able to assist you and your family in pursuing fair compensation from a negligent or reckless California property owner. Decades have passed since we began representing accident victims in personal injury and wrongful death claims. Find out the potential value of your case during a free consultation with a knowledgeable California premises liability attorney at our local law firm. Call 800-816-1529 or contact us online by clicking here, or the chat button below, to speak directly with a lead attorney.

General Information you need to know about your California Slip and Fall Injury Accident Case

What is a California Slip and Fall Accident Case?

Slip and Fall cases, also known as Premises liability cases, involve injuries that occur to persons due to a dangerous condition on public or private property.

You may have a case if you have slipped and fell on a slippery substance and were injured, fell down slippery or improperly maintained stairs and were injured, or even slipped and did not fall, and yet you were injured.

There are too many slip and fall injury accident scenarios to list here.

The bottom line is that you have a right to be safe from things that may cause you to fall.

Many people who have suffered a slip and fall injury are too embarrassed to call a lawyer for help. They figure it was their fault for slipping and falling on water left in a supermarket isle, or maybe slipping on something else that made them fall.

The fact of the matter is that supermarkets have a duty of due care to their customers to make them safe from dangerous conditions on their property that could result in injuries to their customers. If you end up in the emergency room with a torn knee, a fractured arm, or an injured back due to the carelessness of a store or other entity, you are entitled to legal compensation for your damages.

Here are just a few examples of premises liability cases in which we have received settlements and judgments for our clients. In some categories we have received numerous settlements this list is just an example of case types:

• Slip and fall on salt spilled on isle at supermarket;
• Slip and fall on water at supermarket;
• Slip and Fall on Defectively maintained stairs;
• Slip and fall on ice at VIP parking lot at ski area;
• Slip and fall on spill at a Buffet Restaurant;
• Slip and fall on oil left at gas station; etc.

The above list is a small example of slip and fall cases in which we have obtained settlements for our clients. Obviously, every scenario is different.

If you want to obtain a free consultation over the telephone to determine if you have a good slip and fall case call us now at (800) 816-1529, Ext. 1.

Time Limit To File A Lawsuit In Your Slip And Fall Case (California Statute Of Limitations)

The present Statute of Limitations for filing a lawsuit for Slip and Fall cases in the State of California is two (2) years from the date of the accident. If you do not file a lawsuit within two (2) years, you lose your right to sue!

If any of the responsible parties to your slip and fall injury accident is a governmental entity such as on a public sidewalk, street, building, etc., a claim must be filed with the entity within 6 months from the date of the slip and fall accident. If the entity rejects the claim within 45 days, they must then be sued within 6 months from the date of the rejection.

The only time that you should ever wait two years to file a lawsuit in a slip and fall case, is if you are presently treating with a medical provider for injuries sustained in the slip and fall accident. In such cases your damages are not fully known (ripe).

What do you do if you have suffered a Slip and Fall injury?

If you suffered what you believe is a Slip and Fall injury accident, you need to immediately report the injury to the owner, manager, or other employee of the establishment where the injury occurred, so that there will be a record of the slip and fall accident. If the injury occurred on private property or at a residence, notify the homeowner or the owner of the property if possible. Write down the name, title, phone number, address, and physical description of the person that you report the injury to.

Request a copy of any accident, and/or incident report that is prepared in connection with the injury that you reported. If the person who takes the report refuses to give you a copy of the report, try to write down a description of the form that was filled out for future reference.

Try to identify and get contact information from any witnesses that may have observed the slip and fall incident or the dangerous condition.

You may download our California Accident App for iTunes and Android by going to our California Accident App page by clicking here. The app will enable you to record all information related to your slip and fall accident and transmit it to our office.

Request that the condition that caused your injury be photographed.

If necessary, request an ambulance or medical treatment for your injuries.

Upon notification of the incident, the establishment will probably immediately try to clean up and/or correct the condition that caused your slip and fall injury if they can. (Evidence of the repair of cannot be used at trial to prove that there was a dangerous condition, pursuant to the California Evidence Code and public policy, which is that the law does wants persons to correct dangerous conditions.)

Therefore, it is critical if you can, to try to get evidence of the dangerous condition before it is corrected. If you are physically able, purchase a cheap disposable camera and photograph the condition before it is corrected, use your cell phone to photograph the condition if you can. Look to see if there are video surveillance cameras that may have recorded your incident. Request in the presence of witnesses if you can, that the store or establishment preserve any video surveillance tapes.

It is critical for you to contact us as soon as possible after you have suffered a slip and fall injury. We will send an investigator out to photograph, measure, and observe the dangerous condition and to try to interview witnesses. Obviously if the incident was caused by a spilled substance, we may not be able to photograph the actual spilled substance, but we can get photographs of the scene of the incident for future use.

The Necessity of retaining counsel

The above information is just a small part of what you need to know when dealing with slip and fall accidents.

As a firm that handles slip and fall injury cases, including most types of slip and fall cases, we must above all, highly recommend that you retain a lawyer to represent you in your case. Preferably within the first 24-48 hours of the time the accident occurred.

We have dealt with many people who thought they could do it on their own without a lawyer, who in the end either by their own words or conduct, unintentionally sabotaged their own case, or settled their case for a small fraction of what their case was actually worth.

More than anything, we dislike having to tell someone who attempted to handle this complex area of the law on their own, that there is nothing we can do for them because they already settled their case, or they waited too long to file suit, etc.

Our purpose as a law firm is to provide you with aggressive, competent legal representation on your case. The word competency is not just some marketing term. Competency means that you have the expertise and knowledge to handle the case.

The Law Offices of Norman Gregory Fernandez has the level of competency necessary to get you maximum results in your slip and fall case.

You may call us now for a free consultation on your case at (800) 816-1529, Ext. 1. You have nothing to lose except the money you may be entitled to in your case!

Get Help Now

The Law offices of Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates has over 25 years experience handling personal injury cases all over the state of California. We have handled thousands of cases and obtained millions of dollars in settlements and judgments for our clients. Call now for a no pressure free consultation with an actual attorney. 800-816-1529 extension 1.

You may download our California Accident App for iTunes and Android by going to our California Accident App page by clicking here. The app will enable you to record all information related to your Premises Liability injury accident and transmit it to our office.