Premises Liability Law As Applied To Private Property

The rules in premises liability law vary from state to state. By the same token, those same laws vary, depending on how a given property is used. Still, the liability laws do have some general features.

Rules that make businesses liable for injuries sustained by customers
The owner of a business must keep the property on which that same business operates in a reasonably safe condition. That means that the same person should arrange for regular inspections of the property. Hence, such owners/entrepreneurs cannot escape liability by claiming to lack a prior awareness of something that has posed a danger to customers.

In other words, the simple scheduling of inspections does not free the businessperson from responsibility for any injuries suffered by customers. The inspector should provide that same businessperson with reliable reports on the inspected premises, as per Injury Lawyer in Sudbury.

When conditions call for it, the business owner should provide customers with access to safety devices. During the pandemic, at least some businesses kept masks on hand, in case some customer had failed to make use of that protective device. Long before the pandemic’s arrival, just about every business created a warning, if customers were apt to come across a dangerous spot. For instance, a wet floor might get cordoned off, until it had dried.

A business’ owner cannot be held responsible for the performance of harmful acts that were carried out by a 3rd party, unless those same acts could have been foreseeable.

Rules that apply to homeowners

A homeowner has no legal responsibility for the safety of any trespassers. Still, that same homeowner should post a warning, stating that trespassing is illegal on the land in the area of the posted sign. Furthermore, the homeowner’s freedom from liability, with respect to trespassers, should not get viewed as permission to perform a wilful act against any trespasser.

Uninvited guests should be warned of any dangers on the property. Invited guests deserve the highest level of protection. That means that the homeowner ought to take any reasonable measure to protect the guest’s safety.

Hence, if a home contains some type of attractive nuisance, then there needs to be some type of warning for any guest that might venture in the direction of that same nuisance. For instance, if a home had a few steps that separated one part of a room from another part, then it is the homeowner’s responsibility to place some type of warning in the area of those same steps.

Still, it is up to the homeowner to decide on the nature of that warning. Moreover, the homeowner’s efforts do not have to extend to the introduction of unreasonable measures, in order to alert a guest to the nuisance’s presence.