If you were injured on another person’s property in West Chester, including public, private, or commercial property, you may be able to get compensated by filing a claim or lawsuit. Compensation may be available for your medical bills, pain and suffering, lost earnings, projected reductions to your future earning ability, and other hardships and losses that you have suffered due to your injury. Armed with more than three decades of legal experience serving injury victims in West Chester and the surrounding Pennsylvania communities, the premises liability attorneys of The Reiff Law Firm are ready to fight for the compensation you deserve.
At The Reiff Law Firm, we are nationally recognized, award-winning trial attorneys who have earned a reputation for skillfully handling the tough cases other firms turn down. If you were hurt on another’s property, such as a slip and fall accident in a grocery store or restaurant, we can design an aggressive legal strategy to pursue the maximum compensation. Our goal is to help give you and your family financial stability after an accident, while ensuring that justice is served and the negligent party is held accountable. For a free consultation about filing a premises liability lawsuit in West Chester, Pennsylvania, contact our law offices online, or call The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940 today.
What is a Premises Liability Claim?
“Premises” is another term for a piece of property. The word “liability” refers to legal responsibility for an accident. Therefore, premises liability deals with injuries that occur on hazardous properties, often due to serious defects like broken flooring, leaks and spills, poor lighting, damaged support railings, structural weaknesses, electrical hazards, fire hazards, or unsecured wires and cables. If a person is injured on a property, or premises, that belongs to another party, that party could potentially be liable for the accident.
Premises liability cases can revolve around indoor, outdoor, residential, commercial, private, or even public properties, though special rules apply for lawsuits against government entities. Some common examples of settings where injuries can occur due to property defects include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Airports
- Amusement Parks
- Apartment Complexes
- Banks and Post Offices
- Bars and Restaurants
- Casinos
- Coffeeshops and Cafes
- Colleges, Universities, and Schools
- Concert Venues and Music Halls
- Fast Food Franchises
- Grocery Stores
- Hotels and Motels
- Movie Theatres
- Museums
- Parking Lots and Parking Garages
- SEPTA, Bus, and Train Stations
- Shopping Malls and Retail Outlets
- Sidewalks and Walkways
One of the most common types of premises liability cases is called a “slip and fall accident,” which can occur when a person trips over a hazard on the ground, slips on sleet or ice which has not been properly removed or salted by the property owner, slips on a leak or wet spot, or slips due to poor lighting and low visibility. Other than falling on a property, a person can also be injured by falling objects, collapsing structures like balconies or fire escapes, or defective escalators and elevators.
Who is Responsible for an Injury on Property in PA?
If you were injured on someone else’s property in West Chester, you could be able to recover compensation. However, a property owner is not automatically liable for every injury that occurs on the premises. In order to be compensated, you must prove that the property owner either took certain actions or failed to take certain actions, which led to your accident and resulted in harm. Specifically, there are four elements to a premises liability claim:
- The defendant owed you a duty of care. Property owners have a general duty to maintain premises that are reasonably safe for visitors, customers, employees, guests, and/or residents.
- The defendant breached their duty of care. In premises liability cases, the breach is often a failure to provide adequate maintenance that ensures a reasonable level of safety.
- The defendant’s actions, or inaction, led to your injuries. Your attorney will use evidence to show how the defendant’s conduct and decision-making created the conditions that caused your injury.
- You suffered damages. Finally, you must prove that you were somehow harmed by the accident – for example, that you suffered injuries and incurred medical expenses. Unfortunately, a wide range of injuries can be caused by falls on property and other property-related accidents, such as bone fractures, facial injuries, back injuries, and brain injuries. Wrist and hand injuries are especially common, as people instinctively use their hands to brace for a fall.
West Chester Premises Liability Attorneys Fighting for Accident Victims
The premises liability lawsuit lawyers of The Reiff Law Firm have been representing injury victims in Pennsylvania for more than 35 years. If you, your husband or wife, or your son or daughter was injured while visiting, living, dining, or shopping at any property in West Chester, our attorneys can assess the situation to determine whether you have a claim, and if so, help you understand your legal options for proceeding forward. To speak confidentially about an injury on public or private property in West Chester, call the law offices of The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940 for a free consultation, or contact us online.
