A premises liability case is as complex as a big international firm’s monetary case. There are a lot of loopholes, potholes, and whatnot in the system. In order to win a premises liability claim, you need to know all the ins and outs of the premises liability rules. But don’t worry if you don’t already know all that, because you can always seek the help of professionals and see how can a premise liability lawyer protect your rights.
Understanding the role of a premises liability lawyer
In order to understand the role of a premise liability lawyer, we need to understand the premise liability first. Premise liability is a legal concept according to which you can hold a premises owner or occupier responsible for a preventable accident. Sometimes, these accidents can cost you a lot in terms of your medical bills, loss of wages, loss of quality of life, and even mental depression because of that. To help you get out of that low phase of your life, a Premise Liability Lawyer can play an important role. If you decide to consult them regarding your case, they will help you get your claim awarded by the defendants as much as possible.
How does a premises liability lawyer conduct your case?
The first thing to build your case is that if you visit someone or get hurt on someone else’s property or a commercial establishment. Your injury can cost you a lot and for that reason, you need to understand the liability case strategies. Here your lawyer will help you from the beginning. They will tell you about who you should sue for your claim so that you get the most out of your case to get compensated for all your losses. There is a complex legal process in that matter so you need your lawyer to help you navigate from the beginning in the right direction.
Let’s see what typically happens in most of the premise liability cases:
Consultation with your attorney
In pursuance of your premise liability case, your first step should be to consult with a premises liability attorney. There are a lot of premises liability attorneys in every state but you need to follow some guidelines to hire a suitable attorney for your case. Once you’re done with that, you can start by discussing your case with your attorney thoroughly. You need to tell every detail of your accident so that your lawyer can get a better and clearer understanding and the viability of your case. After this thorough consultation, your lawyer will help you go through the steps further ahead with your case.
Investigation and evidence collection
The next step of your case is completely done by your lawyer with the help of yours. They will investigate the accident site, the potential and actual causes of the accident, and any proof or eyewitnesses. They may gather the incident reports, and any evidence like CCTV footage, and photos, or talk to experts to assess the cause and prevention of your injury for the next time.
They will also ask for a copy of insurance from the property owner or occupier, their negligence reports in the past regarding yours, or any other potential risk.
Establishing liability
This step is mainly to establish your liability to the property owner or occupier, whoever was responsible for the accident. This includes establishing that there was a preventable injury cause that the property owner or occupier must’ve known about. They should have warned the visitors or paid some duty of care to remove that risk from their premises. But they were negligent and intentionally or unintentionally they didn’t take care of it and the accident happened. Here another point is very important whether the property owner removed that cause of potential accident after knowing about your accident or they are still stubborn enough to keep it that way.
Here all the proofs and documented records of the property owner come in handy to establish the liability to the owner.
Evaluation of the damage
Evaluation of the damages you suffered because of that accident is the key step of your case. To evaluate the damages, your lawyer will count on every single aspect of your life and health that was impacted by the accident. That includes your medical bills, financial losses like your damaged assets, loss of job or wages because of how many days you couldn’t go to the office. Similarly, your mental damages like the loss of quality of life, depression, and more things they might talk with rehabilitation experts as well.
Settlement negotiations
In most premises liability cases, the concerned parties try to negotiate a settlement out of court. It’s because they know that the court trials can go a long way so they just give you some money and shut the case. And trust me; this is the best thing to have happened to you in your case. But only if your lawyer is experienced enough to negotiate the right settlement amount for your case. Otherwise, you may lose on both ends like losing your health and life and then losing the liability claim for a tiny piece of cake as well. Therefore, your lawyer will try to negotiate the most amount of liability claim for you and try to convince them to pay more for your injury. Otherwise, the case might be taken to the court where you’ll find justice.
Litigation, if necessary
In some of the premises liability claims, the case doesn’t settle for a fair amount out of court and that’s why you may need to proceed with the lawsuit. Once your case is filed in court, the defendants and the plaintiff will have to defend their case in front of the jury. You need to know several legal rules to defend your case properly. That’s why your case will have to be presented by your lawyer if you don’t know all the legalities. And this is where the evidence, arguments, and settlements come in.
And that brings us to the final step.
Resolution and Compensation
This is the final step of your case where you either get the most amounts or a little less but only if both; the claimant and the defendant agree. The best thing is that the judge or jury will ask you for how much compensation you claim and decide whether or not the defendant is liable for that.
Your lawyer will help you through this by telling you everything so that you don’t miss any bit of your claim and get what they really owe you to protect your rights. Otherwise, you may settle for less because as you know, you don’t know all the complexities of the legalities of different states.
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
What are the strict liability principles?
There are very strict liability principles in every state of the US and many other countries that imply that the defendant is liable for their committed actions. Even if they didn’t mean to, or didn’t know about their actions.
What two things are needed to prove strict liability?
To prove your liability to someone, you need to establish this as a fact that you got injured. And the other thing is that you got injured because of their negligence either by their pets, products, or unsafe environment.
Why is it hard to prove and defend against strict liability?
The reason why strict liability cases are difficult to defend is because the prosecutor doesn’t need to prove that you did it intentionally. They just need to prove that the cause of that injury was your negligent behavior either intentional or unintentional.
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