Costa Mesa Premises Liability Lawyers
Helping Those Injured on Someone Else’s Property
When you’re out and about, buying groceries or window shopping the newest fashions, you expect a certain level safety. Unfortunately, those expectations are often proven wrong. The attorneys at Allen Flatt Ballidis & Leslie know that what may seem like a small accident, such as a slip and fall in Costa Mesa, can have a detrimental impact on your life.
Under California premises liability law, owners or operators of a property have a responsibility to exercise reasonable care to maintain the property free of hazardous conditions. This means they may be able to be held liable for your or your loves one’s injuries. But proving so isn’t necessarily a simple task for those unfamiliar with premises liability law. That’s where an experienced attorney can offer help and expertise.
What Must You Prove to Hold a Property Owner Liable?
Under state law, when you enter someone else’s property, you should have a reasonable expectation of safety. The owner or person in control of the property has a duty to maintain it in a reasonably safe condition. If a known risk of harm exists on the premises, the owner or operator has a duty to give adequate warning of the situation, which allows visitors to avoid it. Lack of knowledge of a hazardous situation is not a defense in many cases. Property owners and operators are required to inspect their property or determine its condition by another means. To hold a property owner or operator liable, you must show that an unreasonably dangerous condition existed on the property, and that the owner or operator knew, or should have reasonably known, of the dangerous condition, and failed to correct it or provide adequate warning.
Types of Premises Liability Injuries
One of the most common ways visitors are injured on commercial and private properties is slip or trip and fall accidents. This type of injury can occur in almost any location. Slip and fall accidents are caused by wet, oily, or slippery walking surfaces. Trip and falls are caused by tripping hazards, such as cracks, holes, or uneven surfaces in sidewalks and parking lots, or insufficient lighting in stairways and hallways. There are many other types of premises liability accidents and injuries, including:
- Elevator or escalator injuries
- Swimming pool drownings
- Electrocutions from faulty wiring
- Dog bites
- Negligent security resulting in criminal assault
- Amusement park injuries
- Stair, balcony, or porch collapses
- Building fires
Why You Need a Lawyer
Liability may be challenging to prove in an accident that occurs on someone else’s property. Evidence of the unreasonably dangerous condition that caused your accident may be corrected, repaired, or otherwise altered before it can be photographed or viewed by others. For example, spilled grease or a puddle of water in a restaurant is likely to be cleaned up immediately after an accident occurs. Our experienced Costa Mesa personal injury attorneys can investigate your accident to determine fault and liability and obtain and preserve evidence to support your claim. We can negotiate skillfully with insurance companies on your behalf and fight for your rights in court, if necessary.
Why Choose Us?
Allen Flatt Ballidis & Leslie was officially founded in 1974. Our Orange County personal injury lawyers have more than four decades of experience representing injured people in a range of personal injury matters, including premises liability claims. We have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for our clients. Unlike some other firms, we keep you fully informed of the status of your case in real time and offer communication specific to your needs, not ours.
If you have been hurt on someone else’s property, call Allen Flatt Ballidis & Leslie at (949) 752-7474 to schedule a free consultation. There are no time limits or restrictions on our initial meeting with you. We can tell you if you have a premises liability case, and what damages you may be entitled to claim.
Call (888) 752-7474, or send over our free case
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