In Westchester County, New York, businesses and property owners are legally required to ensure the safety of their visitors. If they fail to do so, they can be held financially responsible for the accidents their actions caused. They’re called premises liability laws, and they’re designed to keep visitors safe from potential hazards and hold property owners accountable for negligent behavior.
For this week’s article, let’s look at New York premises liability laws and how they apply to the different types of visitors that businesses may attract. We’ll explain the steps accident victims can take to win a premises liability lawsuit in New York, and how our premises liability lawyers at Gash & Associates, P.C. can help.
Premises Liability Laws in Westchester County
Premises liability laws in New York and Westchester County require property owners to maintain safe conditions on their property. This means they need to fix any known hazards quickly and regularly inspect the property for any new ones that spring up. If there are areas where visitors might slip, trip, or fall and the owner can’t fix the problem right away, the laws usually require them to alert and warn their visitors so accidents can be avoided. This is known as the duty of care an owner owes to their visitors, but that duty changes based on the types of visitors on the premises.
Types of Visitors and the Duty of Care
The duty of care a property owner owes to a visitor depends on the type of visitor they are. Invitees are people invited onto the property for business purposes, like customers at a grocery store. Property owners owe the highest duty of care to these people. They need to warn them about dangerous areas the staff is aware of and inspect the store for possible new hazards.
Licensees are people who enter the property for social reasons or their own benefit, like neighbors visiting a home for a BBQ. Property owners should fix known hazards or warn their guests, but they’re not required to inspect their property for dangers before inviting over friends. Trespassers are people who enter the property without permission and are owed the lowest level of care. Property owners must still avoid intentionally harming them, however, and they should lock dangerous equipment away from children who might play nearby.
Proving Owner Negligence in Slip and Fall Accidents
If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident, you need to prove certain things to hold the property owner accountable financially. You need to show what level of care you were owed as a visitor, and then prove that the property owner failed to meet this duty by not fixing hazards or warning you about them. The next step is to demonstrate that the property owner’s failure directly caused your injury by providing medical evidence, witness statements, or security camera footage that links your injury and the accident. Finally, the injuries you suffered in the accident must have cost you something. Falling down in a grocery store might hurt your pride, but to hold a property owner responsible for an accident, you need to provide medical bills or show that you missed work due to the injury.
If You’ve Been Injured, Gash & Associates Can Help
At Gash & Associates, P.C., we understand premises liability laws in Westchester County and can help you get the compensation you deserve after an accident. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a property owner’s negligence, call us at (914) 328-8800 today.
