Premises Liability Lawyer: When Unsafe Property Causes Injury

What is a premises liability claim?

A premises liability claim holds a property owner or occupier responsible for an injury caused by an unsafe condition on the property, or by a failure to take reasonable steps to protect people there. It covers far more than falls: collapsing stairs and decks, falling objects, elevator and escalator failures, pool injuries, fires caused by code violations, and assaults that reasonable security would have prevented.

If your injury came from a slip, trip or fall, our slip and fall page walks through those cases in detail, including Pennsylvania's rule for snow and ice. This page covers the broader duties owners owe and the other kinds of property cases.

What a property owner owes you depends on why you were there

Pennsylvania courts decide the owner's duty by the visitor's status. Getting that status right is one of the first things we do, because it changes what you have to prove.

• Invitees: customers, patients, tenants' visitors on business, and members of the public on property held open to them. Pennsylvania law says the duty owed to a business invitee is the highest duty owed to anyone on the land. The owner must protect them against known dangers and against dangers that reasonable inspection would uncover.
• Licensees: social guests and others on the property with permission but not for the owner's business. The owner generally must warn of or fix dangers it knows about that the guest is unlikely to notice, but does not have to inspect for unknown ones.
• Trespassers: people on the property without permission. Recovery is limited to narrow situations, such as willful or wanton misconduct by the owner. Children drawn onto property by a dangerous feature can be treated differently.

What you have to prove

In a property case you generally need to show four things: a dangerous condition existed; the owner knew about it or should have found it through reasonable care; the owner failed to fix it, guard it or warn about it; and that failure caused your injury. The same elements apply whether the hazard was a rotted stair tread or a broken lock on an apartment building door.

Evidence often includes photos and video, maintenance and inspection logs, prior complaints and repair requests, building and fire code records, incident reports and witness statements. Pennsylvania's modified comparative negligence rule under 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102 applies, so the owner will often argue that you should have seen the hazard. Your damages are reduced by any share of fault assigned to you, and you can't recover if your share is greater than the combined fault of the defendants.

Negligent security

When a person is assaulted, robbed or shot on someone else's property, the attacker is responsible, but the property owner may share responsibility if the crime was foreseeable and reasonable security measures were missing. Common settings include apartment complexes, parking lots and garages, bars and nightclubs, convenience stores, hotels and shopping centers.

These cases turn on what the owner knew and what it did about it. We look at prior crimes on or near the property, police calls, tenant complaints, broken locks and gates, burned-out lighting, disabled cameras, and whether security staff was cut back. A negligent security claim is a civil claim; it does not depend on whether the attacker was caught or charged.

Landlord and apartment building injuries

Landlords who keep control of common areas, such as hallways, stairwells, lobbies, laundry rooms, parking lots and walkways, are generally responsible for keeping those areas reasonably safe. Tenants and their guests are hurt by broken steps, loose railings, missing smoke detectors, faulty wiring, collapsing ceilings and unlit stairways.

A landlord's responsibility for problems inside a rented unit depends on the lease, what the landlord promised to repair, and whether the landlord knew about the defect. Written repair requests, texts to the property manager, and code enforcement complaints are strong evidence. Keep copies of everything.

Swimming pool injuries

Pools at apartment complexes, hotels, clubs and private homes can be dangerous when basic safety measures fail. Claims can involve missing or broken fencing and gates, lack of supervision where lifeguards were promised, slippery decks, unmarked depth changes, broken drain covers, and poor water quality that led to illness.

Drowning and near-drowning cases involving children raise special questions about how the child got access to the pool and whether the owner should have expected it. If a death occurred, the family may also have wrongful death and survival claims.

Elevator and escalator injuries

Elevators that stop out of level, doors that close on passengers, sudden drops, and escalator steps that catch clothing or collapse can cause serious injuries. The building owner and the company hired to maintain the equipment may both be responsible.

Maintenance contracts, service call records, inspection certificates and prior complaints are key evidence. Report the incident to building management in writing, and ask that the equipment's records and any video be preserved.

Injuries on government property

Claims involving property owned by the City of Philadelphia, a township such as Upper Darby, a borough, a school district, the Commonwealth, or SEPTA follow special rules. Written notice is generally required within six months under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5522. Government immunity laws allow claims only in listed situations, such as certain dangerous conditions of real property, and cap damages: $250,000 per plaintiff and $1,000,000 per occurrence for Commonwealth parties, including SEPTA, and $500,000 per occurrence for local agencies.

Deadlines and what to do now

Premises liability claims in Pennsylvania generally must be filed within two years under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524, and government claims need notice much sooner. Owners repair hazards and security video gets recorded over, so the evidence can be gone within days.

Photograph the condition and your injuries, report the incident in writing, get witness names, and get medical care. Don't give a recorded statement to the owner's insurer before you get advice.

Your Legal Warrior handles premises liability cases on a 100% contingency fee. There is no attorney fee unless we recover. The firm advances all case costs, which are repaid only from a recovery. If there is no recovery, you owe nothing. Call (267) 412-4601, answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or send the free case review form.