Santa Ana Premises Liability Attorney

Whether you have been hurt in a public property (such as a park, store or shopping mall) or a private property (such as a personal residence or office building), California premises liability law provides that when entering a property, a person has a reasonable expectation of not getting injured. This means that the owner or operator of a property (or non-owner resident) bears the responsibility to maintain reasonable care to keep their property safe from hazardous conditions. A Santa Ana premises liability attorney can help you understand your rights under California law.

The Duty

California premises liability law dictates that liability in these cases ordinarily turns on the owner or operator of the premises at the time of the injury who is under a duty to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition. Any known risk of harm on the premises must include sufficient warning of the condition so that guests can avoid it. A lack of knowledge of a dangerous condition is not a viable defense. The owner or occupier’s duty of care is an affirmative one, meaning that they are required to inspect their property or use other methods of determining of its condition.

Notice Of The Condition

As previously stated, a lack of knowledge of a dangerous condition is not a viable 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 an adequate period of time so as to be unreasonable is enough to imply constructive notice.

To put constructive notice simply, if the 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

Slip and fall accidents are often painful and can lead to injuries to the spine, back and shoulder. Slips can occur in almost any location, from a wet, oily or otherwise slippery surface and generally results in the person falling backward. More serious injuries to the skull, brain and brain stem can result in lifelong disability or even death.

Trip and falls ordinarily result from cracks, holes or uneven surfaces in places like sidewalks and parking lots. They might also occur due to insufficient lighting when somebody trips on stairs or over an object in an unlit hallway. 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 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 think of 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 (California is one of the states that has a dog bite statute. Under the statute, negligence isn’t an issue. A dog owner is strictly liable for any bites caused by their dog regardless of whether the dog has ever shown dangerous tendencies)
* Negligent or inadequate security is relatively new in the law. It is now recognized that Santa Ana property owners have a duty to keep others safe from criminal acts or attacks. If they fail to take adequate protective measures, and injury results, they can be held liable.

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 Santa Ana 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 Santa Ana Personal Injury Attorney 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Much of this will depend on the way the matter unfolded to begin with. The state of California places the responsibility for the maintenance of a property on its owner.

This means that if the slip and fall accident was a direct result of negligence in this regard, then the owner will bear the liability.

If you have a slip and fall, reach out to a Santa Ana slip and fall lawyer for a case evaluation as soon as possible!

Capture whatever evidence you can that can support your eventual claim. This will include photos and videos of the area and your person if there are any physical indicators present.

Contact information of the owner and any witnesses is also an asset.

More importantly, you need to get medical attention. This is to ensure all is well and also to have medical documentation for your claim generated.

You also want to contact a slip-and-fall attorney in Santa Ana as quickly as possible. This will ensure that you are informed enough to not make any missteps that could cause challenges for your case later on.

A premises liability claim is a complex undertaking and requires legal expertise, especially in the wake of insurance companies that may want to prevent you from getting the compensation that you deserve.

Slip and fall lawyers know how to navigate negotiations with these companies per your best interests. Additionally, your attorney will take all the necessary steps to build a case that guarantees the best possible outcome.

No. Slip and fall attorneys will often engage in other kinds of premises liability cases too. In the case of the Law Offices of Brent A. Duque, some other examples are swimming pool drowning, electroshock from faulty wiring, dog bites, and diving injuries.

If you have a matter that may be a premises liability case, do not hesitate to reach out for a consultation. Remember that it’s free and no obligation comes with it!

During the case evaluation process, your attorney wants to evaluate the possibility of an enforceable slip-and-fall case. You will need to provide a few details, which will help to give some context.

Following this, you will be provided with the next steps to take and an overview of what the process to pursue the claim would look like.

You want a lawyer that has experience dealing with your kind of cases. If you have a slip-and-fall accident, a real estate lawyer may not be the best choice, for example. You also want to think about the reviews that previous clients have left.