Premises Liability Overview
Pennsylvania Premises Liability Law
In Pennsylvania, premises liability law protects people who are injured on someone else’s property. When you are visiting another person’s property, like a store, hotel, parking lot, or other business establishment, and are injured as a result of a slip and fall accident, or an unsafe or hazardous condition, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries.
Philadelphia Slip and Fall Accidents
When you are invited onto another person’s property, or are conducting business on another’s property, the property owner owes you the highest duty of care to prevent injuries. Even if you are simply browsing in a store or window shopping and slip and fall because of an unsafe condition like a loose electrical cord, liquid spills, uneven floor surfaces, or loose handrails, you are considered a business invitee and are still owed the highest duty of care. If you are on another person’s property without their permission, however, you are owed a lesser duty of care. If you are injured on another person’s property, an attorney must determine what duty of care you were owed, to figure out how much you may be able to recover.
Inadequate Security in Philadelphia
Apart from slip and fall accidents caused by unsafe or hazardous property conditions, premises liability law also allows you to get financial compensation in situations where a business establishment has not provided adequate security. If a business owner fails to take proper security measures, and a third party comes onto the property and rapes, robs, or assaults others, the injured party may have a claim against the property owner. Examples of failing to provide adequate security include: failing to properly light the property, failing to install alarm or security systems, failing to provide or maintain locks, and failing to properly train staff and other security employees.
In the last 50 years, our Philadelphia premises liability attorneys at Reiff & Bily have successfully represented numerous slip and fall, and other premise liability cases, with clients awarded millions in damages. Premises liability law may also apply to accidents at swimming pools, water parks, theme parks, and those that occur during skydiving, parasailing, and water-related activities.
