Cherry Hill Premises Liability Lawyer

Everyone wants a safe home, and we take many precautions to achieve that goal. We install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide sensors. We make sure the rugs are tacked down to the floor and put bathmats outside the tub to avoid slipping and falling. Those are all proactive steps that are under our control. What we can’t control is what happens when we step out of the house.

There are potential hazards, whether we’re going shopping or eating at a nice restaurant. When those hazards cause personal injury and are due to an act of negligence, you are entitled to seek a remedy. That remedy will come in the form of a settlement that covers your economic and noneconomic losses.

The best approach to achieve that settlement is to get support from Folkman Law. We are a team of attorneys. Each experienced Cherry Hill premises liability lawyer on our team has success in helping clients recover top-dollar settlements that have been instrumental in helping them recover after suffering severe personal injuries. Let us help you do the same.

We offer initial consultations during which you can gain some perspective on your rights and any financial award you may qualify for. So, if you’re hurt, call or contact us to schedule a meeting with one of our premises liability lawyers in Cherry Hill.

Establishing Negligence If You’re Hurt on Someone Else’s Property in New Jersey

Not every injury that happens outside of your home is considered a premised liability injury. You could twist your ankle when jogging for exercise or get sunburned on the beach. Those injuries could be attributed to your own actions. However, if the cause of an injury is due to someone else’s negligence, you could have a pursuable case.

A Cherry Hill premises liability lawyer needs to establish the following core elements of negligence for you to have a successful case:

• Someone had a duty of care to keep you out of harm’s way while you were on their property
• That same party breached their duty of care
• That breach caused your injuries
• You have accumulated losses because of the injuries

The New Jersey Courts explain the next phase of a premises liability claim in the following way:

“To determine if a duty existed, the Court examined the relationship between the property owner and the person entering the premises. Why was this person there? Was a benefit conferred on the owner by the person, or were both parties mutually benefited? Identifying the status of the parties became a determinative factor in establishing the duty.”

Types of Visitors and an Owner or Operators’ Obligation to You

Courts in New Jersey have established three types of premises visitors. The property owner owes a different level of care depending on the type of visitor. Here are the possibilities of visitor types that would need to be established in your case:

Licensees

A licensee is someone who is permitted to come upon the property for their own purposes. When you visit someone’s home as a guest, you are considered a licensee. The property owner owes you a legal duty to warn you of any dangerous conditions they are aware of.

Even if you’ve visited that home dozens of times, you are still owed that warning for any potential hazard, whether it is a loose railing handle or steps with ice in the winter. The property owner doesn’t have to look for or anticipate hazards.

Invitees

An invitee is someone who is invited onto a property to conduct some sort of business transaction with the owner. That invitation can be expressed or implied. For instance, you don’t get an invitation from the grocery store owner every time you go shopping. Also, you don’t have to complete a business transaction to be an invitee. You can go into a clothing store and not buy anything, but you are still considered an invitee because you intended to shop.

A property owner owes the greatest duty of care to an invitee to provide a safe environment for them. Not only do they need to warn an invitee about any potential hazards, but they also have to take responsibility for repairing the dangerous conditions.

For example, if a pipe bursts and floods the floor in a store, warning signs need to be put up to about the wet floors. Also, the owner needs to call a plumber immediately to make the repairs. Without putting up warnings or making the repairs, the property owner could be negligent.

Trespassers

A trespasser is someone who is not invited onto the property. That could be someone who is making a shortcut across your yard, or it could be someone who is engaging in the commission of a crime. A property owner does not owe a trespasser a duty of care.

For example, the trespasser cutting across the backyard who trips in a hole and hurts themselves can’t sue the owner. On the other hand, if the owner puts out a trap to intentionally harm the trespasser, they could be sued for the injury.

Examples of Accidents Your Cherry Hill Premises Liability Lawyer Can Help With

There are many potential hazards that can crop up at a property. Some hazards are immediate, such as a bottle of liquid falling off a shelf and causing a spill. Other hazards have been growing for a long time, such as roof leaks or buckling tiles. In either scenario, the property owner has a responsibility to remedy those hazards.

Here are some of the examples of premises liability your Cherry Hill premises liability lawyer could help you with.

Slip and Fall

According to the National Floor Safety Institute, falls account for over 8 million visits to the emergency room. That makes slip and fall accidents one of the most common types of premises liability scenarios. These can occur in any interior store, bar, restaurant, movie theater or any other business or public space.

Assault

An assault can happen in a bar or nightclub when a patron gets out of control. It can also occur in a commercial property like an office, hotel, or apartment building. If someone breaks into the property, it can lead to an assault. In both of those scenarios, the property owner could be held liable for not providing adequate security measures.

Dog Bite

In Cherry Hill, dog owners need to comply with the Camden County leash laws. If you are the victim of a dog bite, it could be because the owner didn’t follow the law, which would make them negligent.

Falling Objects

You don’t have to be inside a property to be injured. Falling objects that come off a building or construction site can cause injury and property damage. Those are situations where the property owner or the workers are not responsible for pedestrians. Either the sidewalk needs to be blocked off, or other safety procedures should be in place.

Damages You Are Entitled to If Hurt on Others’ Premises in Cherry Hill

If you have sustained injuries from a visit to a property outside your home and someone else’s negligence caused that injury, you are entitled to pursue damages. You and your Cherry Hill premises liability lawyer will need to calculate all of your damages. The following categories are the potential damages that could be a part of your claim:

• Current and future medical expenses
• Surgery
• Hospital stays
• Physical therapy
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Lost wages and benefits
• Diminished earning capacity
• Loss of companionship

While your economic damages will be easy to calculate based on your bills and receipts, the noneconomic damages, such as pain, suffering, and emotional distress, could be calculated as a per diem or multiplier. With a per diem calculation, you will be assigned a value of your pain for a specific number of days. The multiplier method multiplies the sum of your economic damages by a number between one and five, with five being the most severe amount of suffering.