Encino Premises Liability Lawyer

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

You can readily suffer injury through no fault of your own when you visit property such as a store, office building, motel or apartment complex. If the owner or occupier of the property knew of a dangerous condition or activity that resulted in your injury and neglected to take timely, practical steps to protect you from it, you may be qualified to recover full compensation for all harm you have suffered. You should immediately get help from an experienced Encino premises liability attorney.

Premises Liability Cases in California

When you work 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 took place. Generally, the matters that we will concentrate on include:

• Duty-- Did you legally visit the property? For example, were you a customer at a store, a guest at a hotel or a social guest at someone's home? If so, the property owner or occupant owed a duty to exercise ordinary care to ensure that the property was safe for you. In other words, the owner or occupant needed to take practical measures to protect you from any dangerous 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 find on your own.
• Breach-- Did the owner or occupier fail to repair the dangerous condition in a reasonable, timely manner or, at 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 carelessness of the owner or occupier contribute to the injuries that you suffered, or did something else-- perhaps your own actions-- cause the injuries?
• Damages-- Did you suffer actual injury due to the failure of the property owner or occupier to fulfill the duty owed to you? This means that you need to show that you suffered real physical, psychological and/or financial harm.

It is always important to look at the ways a property owner or occupier will attempt to avoid liability. For example, the owner or occupant may claim that you were a trespasser or argue that you suffered injuries because you walked into an "open and obvious" hazard. The lawyers at Drake Law Firm, will be ready to tackle those issues and protect your right to full and fair compensation.

Types of Premises Liability Claims in California

A premises liability claim can emerge in various situations. A few of the most common premises liability claims that our law firm handles include:

• Slip and falls-- These accidents usually happen due to wet and slippery floors, poor lighting, broken and uneven sidewalks, torn or frayed carpeting and icy or snowy walkways and parking lots. Additionally, many falls occur because of defects such as broken stairs or handrails.
• Falling objects-- Many people sustain injuries when improperly stacked merchandise falls from store shelves or when workers drop tools, equipment and materials at construction sites.
• Contamination-- Landlords, particularly, subject tenants and their guests to harm when they neglect to conduct routine inspections and remedy issues such as mold buildup, lead paint, carbon monoxide or gas leaks. Usually, their oversight violates local building codes.
• Escalator and elevator accidents-- These incidents typically happen when building owners or tenants neglect to regularly inspect and maintain elevators and escalators in stores, shopping centers and office buildings.
• 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 occupant neglects to properly maintain a 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 Lawsuit

Our goal at Drake Law Firm, will be to acquire maximum compensation for you in your premises liability case. We understand how dangerous property conditions can cause people to suffer serious, 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 expenses
• Lost wages (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 deny or reduce the amount of your claim.

Our Encino Premises Liability Lawyers Are Ready to Help You

At Drake Law Firm, we will move quickly to investigate your case. We work with experienced investigators that can document the scene of your accident, talk with witnesses and track down other evidence such as surveillance camera footage. We also regularly consult with experts that help us to figure out exactly how a hazardous property condition caused an accident. A big part of our investigation might involve locating the identity of the property owner or person that was otherwise in control of the premises where you or a loved one was injured.