Do I Have a Premises Liability Claim?

Accidents happen. A wet floor can lead to a nasty slip and fall, or an ice-covered walkway can making walking through
an apartment complex a nightmare. But what determines whether you have a premises liability claim? What is the legal
standard required to pursue one of the claims in court? How can you tell if the accident was singularly your fault,
or if another parties negligence is the main cause of the accident?

In this FAQ, Gary details how you can tell whether or not your accident can be pursued as a premises liability claim.
Just because you are injured on a property does not mean that the property owner is automatically at fault.
Sometimes the accident can be entirely your fault. This will be fully discussed in the FAQ. If you need to speak
with a Personal Injury Lawyer in St. Louis about your case, go ahead and give us a call now
at 314-542-2222 or 618-272-2222. We don’t charge any fees for our consultations
and we never charge any attorneys fees unless we win your claim.

Do I have a Premises Liability Claim?

If you’re injured on the premises of another because of their negligence or a dangerous condition, you have a claim. So,
whether you’re at a store, at a neighbor’s property, your friend’s property, if there’s a dangerous condition of
property that injures you and the defendant was negligent in having that there, you have a claim for all of your
damages.

So, if you have a hole on your neighbor’s property. They knew that was there for years and years. No one told you about
it. You’re walking through the yard, and you injured yourself, then you have a claim if you break your leg. If you’re in
a store – we have this case right now – and someone spills a shake, it’s on video. No one cleans it up for an hour, and
your client comes and slips on it and needs a knee surgery, then you have a claim for all of your medical care, your
wage loss damages and then whatever pain and suffering and disability you have.

There are other types of premises cases like this case we settled for a lot of money. It was a bad injury like one and a
half million dollars almost. These folks were injured when a deck, the deck at their home, the apartment they were
renting collapsed and injured both of them. It was written up in the Missouri Lawyers Weekly as a good settlement. So,
there are those types of injuries too when you rent property. As long as it’s not in your exclusive control, it’s in
some control of either in that case the owner as well as the condo association and the management company, if those
folks are negligent, causing you injury, then you have that claim as well.

There’s a wide variety of premises liability cases. We had another case where an ATV rider was riding along, hit a wire
strung between two trees and passed away and died. That claim was also written up in the Lawyers Weekly. So, there’s a
wide variety of premises liability claims, but the basic idea in the law is if it’s a dangerous condition or property,
the owner could have known – not should have known – could have known as the jury instruction which I use many times and
that you didn’t know or didn’t have a reasonable reason to know, and you’re injured, you should get a recovery, and many
landowners have homeowners or other liability insurance to protect them.

If you have a premises liability question, call me, Gary Burger at 314-542- 2222. Thank you.

Gary Burger

Founder | Injury Attorney
Gary Burger has dedicated his career to standing up against bullies. The founder and principal attorney of Burger Law | St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer has helped hundreds of Missouri and Illinois individuals and families recover th …
Years of experience: 30 years
Location: St. Louis, MO

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