Premises liability law involves unsafe or defective property conditions. Owners who breach their duties to keep their spaces safe or warn victims of hazards or defects face claims for personal injuries.
Liability does not turn solely upon the fact of some accident or incident. You must establish that the premises owner owed you a duty, was careless or derelict, and that you suffered injuries as a result. Premises liability claims present issues regarding why you were present on the property and what the owner knew or reasonably foresaw.
Duties: Trespasser, Licensee, or Invitee?
As an initial and significant matter, the level of care owed by the premises owner turns on whether you had a right to be present and the purpose of your presence.
Trespassers
Trespassers get little protection under the premises liability law. Georgia Code Section 51-3-2 declares that the owner or lawful possessor owes no duty of care to a trespasser except to avoid willful or wanton injury. Such actionable injuries occur when the owner allows unreasonably dangerous conditions and conceals them from occupants. These may include animal traps, spring guns, or objects that fall when ropes or wires are tripped.
A trespasser lacks the authority to be present on the property. While “No Trespassing” signs will suffice, you become a trespasser by entering a premises without the express or implied permission of the owner or occupier. It is not automatically necessary that the owner prohibits your presence.
The general rule of no duty to trespassers to warn or prevent dangerous conditions does not extend where the landowner maintains an “attractive nuisance.” Under the attractive nuisance doctrine, a landowner faces liability if a child becomes injured from a dangerous condition and the landowner knows or should know that the condition may draw the child to enter. These attractive nuisances may include swimming pools, trampolines, “bounce houses,” fountains, swing sets, and slides.
Licensees
Having permission to enter property allows you to avoid prosecution or a civil suit for trespassing. It does not improve your prospects of successfully pursuing a premises liability claim. As with trespassers, licensees get compensation only for willful or wanton injuries from a defective property condition.
Georgia Code Section 51-3-2 defines licensees as those with permission to enter the premises, but are not customers, employees/servants, or trespassers, and do not have any contractual relationship with the owner. Licensees are allowed for their own purposes, enjoyment or interests rather than to advance the business or purposes of the owner.
Invitees
The duty of a premises owner to keep the premises reasonably safe and warn of dangerous conditions is reserved for invitees. Plaintiffs in this class have received an express or implied invitation or inducement to enter the premises for the benefit of the property owner. Invitees include:
*Store shoppers
*Hotel or motel guests
*Diners
*Patrons at sporting events
*Clients at offices of professionals or other service providers
In many of these cases, the invitation is implied based upon the premises owner’s being open for business.
Recreational Premises
Under Georgia Code Section 51-3-22, owners of premises used for recreational purposes generally enjoy immunity from liability based on dangerous conditions or failure to warn. In the recreational purposes lie activities such as hiking, fishing, swimming, camping, boating, viewing of scenic, scientific, archaeological, or historical sites; water skiing, and winter sports. The immunity does not apply when the premises owner willfully or maliciously fails to warn or protect against the dangerous condition or (except for governmental entities) charges occupants to enter or use the premises.
If you’re injured at a recreational site that does not charge admission, you must show that the owner chose not to warn about or abate the condition and, in doing so, actually knew that:
*The property was used for recreational purposes
*The condition in question presented an unreasonable risk of death or serious injury; and
*The condition was not apparent to you and others using the property
Types of Defects
Generally, premises liability claims arise from slips, falls, trips, and criminal attacks by third persons. Common defective conditions include:
*Liquids or Objects on Floors: Spills of cleaners, liquid detergent, beverages, and water leave puddles or other slippery places on floors. You might also trip on equipment, merchandise, or extension cords.
*Uneven Surfaces: Owners of shopping centers, parking garages, arenas, and other establishments with parking spaces face liability for potholes, cracks, uncovered storm drains, and other uneven places causing trips and falls. In these cases, property owners may argue that the defective surface condition was so open and obvious that it was careless of you to not avoid it. You may overcome such a defense by proving the absence of adequate lighting (if the fall occurred at night) or that other vehicles, people, or signs distracted you or obstructed your view of the defect.
*Faulty Fire Prevention: The absence of properly-functioning sprinkler systems, extinguishers, or fire alarms can kill, burn or injure hotel or motel guests or others trapped in fires. Premises liability may arise from the owner’s failure to follow these and other fire prevention regulations for smoke detectors, exit signs, or posting of escape routes. Electrical shorts, improper storage of flammable substances, and other human errors might ignite fires that harm invitees on premises.
*Swimming Pools: Children under the age of five years old accounted for 42 percent of near-drowning victims requiring hospitalization in Georgia. As an attractive nuisance, homeowners can become liable even for trespassing children who drown or nearly drown in swimming pools. To that end, Georgia law requires all pools to be completely fenced. The fencing must be at least four feet high and cannot begin more than four inches above ground. If a homeowner elects to treat the side wall of a house as part of the fencing, there must exist an alarm on the door from the house to the pool.
*Broken Rails or Steps: Insecure or broken steps or handrails cause a number of fall injuries. These conditions may occur when nails or screws come loose or broken. Nails might come out of place and make steps not sturdy.
*Negligent Security: Premises liability also entails a property owner’s failure to exercise reasonable care in preventing reasonably foreseeable criminal attacks. The measures required of a property owner may include locks, security cameras, lighting, and patrols of the premises. In negligent security cases, foreseeability of the attack or criminal act that injured you stands as paramount. This entails evidence of crimes on or near the premises that are similar to the one that injured you. Look for reports made by the property owner of prior crimes or reports made by other customers, patrons, or occupants.
The Injuries From Premises Liability
The types of injuries you may expect depend upon the type of defect and the resulting incidents. For example, a slip, fall or trip may cause:
- Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries from falling head-first onto the ground
Fractured legs, arms, knees, and hips
Bruises and strains
Cuts, especially if you fall on sharp objects or edges or come into contact with sharp objects or edges as you slip or fall
Spinal cord injuries
As a result of negligent security, you may suffer attacks that involve stabbings, shootings, or being beaten. These acts leave many of the same types of physical injuries as slips and falls. You may also have emotional and traumatic stress and anxiety that lead to fear of being in public or in certain places. Fires from defective premises conditions can disfigure, burn, and cause smoke inhalation that damages your lungs or other parts of your respiratory system.
Injuries in premises liability cases can generate significant medical expenses for emergency room visits, treatments, rehabilitation, medications, and surgeries. You may prove lost time from work and the lost ability to perform your prior job or other jobs in the future. In addition to these economic damages, you may recover for non-economic losses such as pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, and loss of the companionship and relations of your spouse.
The Statute of Limitations
As with personal injury cases in general, the two-year statute of limitations applies to premises liability cases. You have two years from the date of the fall, slip, trip, attack, fire, or other event that injures you to start a lawsuit. Though you have some time to get treatment and ascertain the extent of our damages, you cannot judge when you must sue from some point of maximum medical recovery, when you return to work, or when you can no longer work. This is because any injury you face suffices to start the statute of limitations.
If a loved one dies from a defective or dangerous property condition, the estate has two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death claim.