Premises liability law is a set of laws that hold the owner of a house or business liable and responsible for injuries of any sort that happen to visitors to their premises. In many cases the injuries are ?slip and fall? and even though they may be accidental the owner of the premises can still be held liable for any and all damages that were caused, accident or not. This area of law is the domain of a premises liability attorney in Chicago area who acts as the attorney of record for the injured party in the event of a law suit.
Although the owner is liable for any accidents the level of liability depends on the visitor and whether the injury could have been prevented by action taken by the owner. Premises liability law covers the interior of the house or business, all the surrounding area which is owned and the public sidewalks in front of the premises must be kept clean.
In the context of premises liability law the owner or the land and building is known as the possessor. The possessor is the homeowner or the owner of any type of business that is open to the general public; this can embrace restaurants and stores of any kind. The visitors to the premises are legally seen as visitors, licensees and trespassers. People who enter a store or shop with the intention to purchase something are known as invitees, the same holds true for people who are invited into the home. Licensees are those who go into a store or other premises without the intention of making a purchase but they are there at the invitation of the owner and trespassers of course are people who have not been granted permission to enter the premises for any reason.
A premises liability attorney in Chicago understands that liability that the owner has is dependent on which category of visitor was injured. Business owners carry a heavy burden under premises liability law, they must provide safe premises and surroundings for customers and they are held liable for injuries regardless of the circumstances. The law expects the business owner to be aware of any hazards that may cause injury and the customer was not made aware of it or if they should have known about a potential hazard.
Homeowners are also liable for accidents that happen on their property. If a visitor happens to slip on an ice covered sidewalk or trips on a broken step the homeowner is liable if the problem was known, not rectified and the visitor was not warned of the hazard. A trespasser has little chance of claiming under premises liability law.
