Moreno Valley Premises Liability Attorney

California premises liability law dictates that any time a person enters your property (whether public or private), they have a reasonable expectation of not getting injured. This places the responsibility on the owner or operator of a property (or non-owner resident) to maintain reasonable care to keep the property safe from hazardous conditions.

Whether you or a family member has been injured on a public property (such as a park, retail store or shopping mall) or a private property (such as a personal residence or office building), a Moreno Valley premises liability attorney can guide you through your rights under California law.

The Duty

California premises law specifies that it is the duty of the owner/occupant of a property to exercise adequate care in the use, maintenance or management of such premises to avoid exposing people to an unreasonable risk of injury. Failure to fulfill this duty in exercising care is considered negligence. If such condition exists, reasonable warning must be given to allow guests to avoid the area.

Notice Of The Condition

A lack of knowledge of a harmful condition is not an acceptable defense if constructive notice might be proved by showing that the owner or occupier should have known of the issue. Evidence that the condition existed for a prolonged period of time so as to be unreasonable is enough to imply constructive notice.

To put constructive notice simply, if a banana peel on the floor of the supermarket was yellow when the person slipped on it and fell, constructive notice could be difficult to prove as it only fell very recently. If the banana peel was brown and deteriorated, it might have been there for a sufficient period of time to be reasonably assumed that the store employees should have known about it.

Slips and Trips

A wet, oily or otherwise slippery surface can cause a slip and fall accident to occur. With slip and fall accidents, the person generally falls backward, resulting in injuries to the spine, back and shoulder. More serious injuries to the skull, brain and brain stem can result in lifelong disability or even death.

Trip and falls generally result from holes, cracks or uneven surfaces in places like sidewalks and parking lots and may occur due to insufficient lighting. With trip and falls, the person usually falls forward, resulting in injury to their skull, face, jaw, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and ribs.

Not every slip or trip situation gives rise to legal liability, but valid slip and fall claims are filed and settled every year. One of our experienced premises liability attorneys can explain the strength of your case and the probability of a favorable outcome.

Other Types of Premises Liability

Most people consider premises liability cases in the context of slip and fall or trip and fall cases, but across Southern California, they include but aren’t limited to animal attacks, swimming pool injuries or deaths, elevator and escalator accidents, amusement park accidents and negligent or inadequate security.

Common private property/home related injuries:
* Drowning in swimming pool
* Spinal and neck injuries from diving
* Electrocution from faulty wiring
* Slip and trips
* Dog bite
* Negligent or inadequate security

Common amusement or theme park injuries:
* Whiplash
* Fractures
* Internal injuries
* Heart attacks
* Back and neck injuries
* Traumatic brain injuries

Common elevator/escalator injuries:
* Falls or drops
* Improper door movement
* Elevator arriving above or below the specified floor
* Accidents caused by sudden stops, missing or degraded parts and side entrapment of footwear

At the Law Offices of Brent A. Duque, we maintain a staff of a highly professional, knowledgeable, aggressive and successful premises liability attorneys who represent injured people through our offices that stretch across Southern California. Time limitations apply to any injury claim you might have, so for purposes of investigating a possible case and possibly preserving evidence, it’s best for you to contact us immediately after an accident.

Contact our Riverside County Personal Injury Attorneys at 1-877-241-9554 to learn more about your legal options. A free consultation is just a phone call away. You can even use our online contact form, and we’ll reply to you quickly.