Harmful Premises

Injury accidents caused by defective or dangerous property, either inside a building or outside, are called "premises liability" accidents. Regardless of how or where an accident takes place, two basic rules determine who is legally responsible.

The owner or occupier of property has a legal duty to anyone who enters the property not to subject that person to an unreasonable risk of injury. The owner and occupier have control over whether the premises are safe, while the visitor has none.

The second basic rule has to do with your own conduct. A property owner or occupier is not held responsible for people who get injured while acting in an unexpected, unauthorized or dangerously careless way.