Whenever you sustain a personal injury, you likely have a lot of questions. You’ll need to know how to treat your injury. It’s also crucial to know the cause of your injury and which changes should be made to prevent future injuries. Of course, you also need to know who is liable for your injury.
When it comes to personal injury cases, there are one of two liability categories involved: premises and personal. Here are the differences between these two liabilities.
Personal liability
Let’s say you’re shopping at your local grocery store. Another shopper is distracted and searching for an item on the shelves, or is pushing their cart while texting or talking on the phone. You’re standing in the aisle and the shopper hits you with their cart. The impact causes you to fall and break your hip. Once you go to the hospital for treatment, the doctor tells you that you need to have surgery.
In this scenario, the shopper who hit you with their cart is responsible for your injuries, which means this is a case of personal liability.
Personal liability happens when someone does something out of negligence that causes injury to another individual. Personal liability also describes the act of damaging other people’s possessions. So, if you’re at the store and you hit someone’s vehicle with your shopping cart, you may be liable for that person’s car repairs.
Premises liability
You’ve been invited to a party at a friend’s house. You excuse yourself from the party to go to the restroom. When you walk into the bathroom, you trip on a protruding floor board, fall, and break your leg. Your friend calls the paramedics, and you’re rushed to the hospital. After assessing your injury, the doctor informs you that you’ll have to miss several days of work.
This incident can be classified as negligence, which means your friend could be held responsible for your injury.
Premises liability, unlike personal liability, is the type of responsibility connected to a personal injury that occurs on a commercial or residential property. In a premises liability case, the responsibility can rest on the owner or resident of the property, depending on the circumstances.
For instance, if someone experiences a slip and fall at a local restaurant because the staff didn’t clean up a spill, the restaurant that leases the building will be liable for any injuries that occur because of this negligence. However, if someone leaves their apartment building and slips on some ice on the sidewalk because the maintenance staff didn’t salt the ground, the apartment building owner could be held liable.
Types of premises liability can include:
- Poor property maintenance
- Poor or no security
- Slip and falls
- Dog bites
- Fires
When you take your personal injury case to court, you should clearly explain which type of premises liability you’ve experienced. In most instances, one of three individuals will be responsible for your injury: owners, tenants, or managers.
Getting assistance from an attorney
If you think you have a liability case, it’s important to note that the location where the injury occurred determines the nature of a premises liability case. It’s important to contact a lawyer as soon as you’ve been injured so you can get the biggest settlement possible for your case.
Working with an attorney also ensures that you have a legal representative contacting the insurance companies for you. It’s also important to submit your medical records concerning the injury to your attorney so the lawyer can present this evidence in court to help you win your case. You’re less likely to get the run-around and will probably get a bigger settlement, whether your case falls in the personal liability or premises liability category.
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