Calabasas Premises Liability Attorney

Hazardous conditions like faulty wiring, poorly stacked merchandise and loose carpeting cause accidents resulting in major injury. Businesses and property owners have an important responsibility to create safe environments for their customers and visitors. This also includes walkways and parking lots, in addition to individuals they hire. Workers are there to serve and sometimes, even protect people that visit their places of business. The lawyers at Drake Law Firm, are experienced in the legal responsibilities and liabilities of businesses or organizations that fail to offer these safe conditions.

You can easily sustain injury through no fault of your own when you go to property such as a store, office building, motel or apartment complex. If the owner or occupier of the property knew of a hazardous condition or activity that caused your injury and neglected to take timely, reasonable actions to protect you from it, you may be eligible to recover full compensation for all damage you have suffered. You should immediately get help from an experienced Calabasas premises liability attorney.

Premises Liability Claims in California

When you consult with Drake Law Firm, we will carefully review the facts of your claim. We will determine and pursue all of your legal options against the owner or occupant of the property where your injury occurred. Typically, the issues that we will concentrate on include:

• Duty-- Did you lawfully visit the property? For instance, were you a customer at a store, a visitor at a hotel or a social guest at a person's home? If so, the property owner or occupant owed a duty to exercise ordinary care to make sure that the property was safe for you. In other words, the owner or occupant needed to take reasonable measures to protect you from any hazardous condition on the property that the owner or occupier knew or reasonably should have known about and which you would not have been expected to discover on your own.
• Breach-- Did the owner or occupant fail to fix the dangerous condition in a reasonable, timely way or, at the very least, to alert you about it? If so, the owner failed to fulfill the duty owed to you and could be held legally responsible for your injuries.
• Causation-- Did the negligence of the owner or occupier contribute to the injuries that you sustained, or did something else-- possibly your own actions-- cause the injuries?
• Damages-- Did you suffer actual harm because of the failure of the property owner or occupant to fulfill the duty owed to you? This means that you must show that you suffered genuine physical, psychological and/or financial harm.

It is always important to consider the ways a property owner or occupier will attempt to avoid liability. For instance, the owner or occupant might claim that you were a trespasser or claim that you sustained injuries because you walked into an "open and obvious" hazard. The lawyers at Drake Law Firm, will be prepared to address those issues and protect your right to full and fair compensation.

Types of Premises Liability Claims in California

A premises liability claim can arise in various circumstances. A few of the most common premises liability cases that our law firm handles include:

• Slip and falls-- These accidents typically occur due to wet and slippery floors, poor lighting, damaged and uneven walkways, torn or frayed carpeting and icy or snowy sidewalks and parking lots. Additionally, many falls occur because of defects such as damaged stairways or handrails.
• Falling objects-- Many individuals sustain injuries when poorly stacked merchandise falls from store shelves or when employees drop tools, equipment and materials at construction sites.
• Contamination-- Landlords, particularly, subject tenants and their guests to harm when they neglect to perform regular inspections and remedy concerns such as mold buildup, lead paint, carbon monoxide or gas leaks. Often, their carelessness violates local building codes.
• Escalator and elevator accidents-- These incidents typically occur when building owners or tenants fail to regularly inspect and maintain elevators and escalators in stores, shopping centers and office complexes.
• Negligent security-- Numerous assaults take place in shopping centers, office buildings, apartments, hotels and motels because property owners and managers fail to protect visitors from known security risks, or they hire employees without a sufficient criminal background check.
• Swimming pool accidents-- Drownings and near-drownings may occur if a property owner or occupier fails to adequately maintain a swimming pool and features such as slides and diving boards. Pool owners should also use a fence or locked gate to keep out children and protect against the foreseeable risk of an accident.

Compensation in a California Premises Liability Case

Our goal at Drake Law Firm, will be to secure maximum compensation for you in your premises liability claim. We know how dangerous property conditions can cause people to suffer severe, life-changing injuries such as traumatic brain injury, back and spine injuries, fractures, burns and soft tissue injuries. We will work hard to pursue damages on your behalf such as:

• Past and future medical costs
• Lost income (including lost future earning capacity)
• Pain and suffering
• Psychological distress
• Wrongful death damages (if you lost your loved one)
• Punitive damages

We will determine all sources of compensation for you and aggressively challenge any attempts by the property owner or occupant (or its insurance provider) to blame you for your injuries and reject or reduce the amount of your claim.

Our Calabasas Premises Liability Lawyers Are Ready to Help You.

At Drake Law Firm, we will move quickly to investigate your claim. We work with skilled investigators who can document the scene of your accident, talk with witnesses and track down various other evidence such as surveillance camera footage. We also frequently consult with experts that help us to determine how a hazardous property condition caused an accident. A major part of our investigation might involve tracking down the identity of the property owner or person who was otherwise in control of the premises where you or a loved one was hurt.