When you access premises for them purposes of conducting business such as in the example of a car showroom or supermarket, you expect that the premises will be safe and free from any hazards. The same also goes to if you were renting an apartment or even a mansion from the landlord, as you expect that the owner did their due diligence to ensure any injurious agents are taken care of.

This is covered under premises liability law, where property owners and businessowners alike are held to a standard of care they must provide invitees of their premises, making sure that they make said invitees aware of any hazards that must be present so they can take the needed steps to avoid them, or act fast to mitigate an injury to save the invitee’s life or prevent further medical complications.

However, premises liability law has its exceptions, and one of this is known as the “clear and present danger” doctrine which posits that a property owner generally has no duty to warn invitees of conditions that are so apparent and readily observable that an invitee could reasonably be expected to discover the same and consequently protect themselves.

The rationale behind this doctrine is rooted in the school of thought that individuals have an intrinsic responsibility to exercise reasonable care for their own safety and that safety owners should not be held liable for injuries arising out of plainly visible hazards. This doctrine has been used as a defense strategy in countless personal injury claims, but it is important to not that it is not a blanket defense, and there are many legal workarounds and exceptions to it.

In this post, we’ll explore these exceptions in an effort to ensure you are compensated for your injuries as an invitee, whether you were shopping at Target or Walmart and got injured, or you slipped and fell at the corporate offices of a billion-dollar company – read on to find out how McCready Law navigates around this doctrine to ensure you receive maximum compensation for your injuries.

Are you looking for a best premises liability lawyer? Please call us NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about your legal options for justice and compensation. The experienced injury attorneys at McCready Law bring to the table over 90 YEARS of combined legal experience where we’ve helped tens of thousands of injured Americans across the country and from all backgrounds recover compensation after getting injured due to the negligent actions of other individuals or large corporations.

Our commitment to excellence over the decades has seen us recover over $260 million and counting for our clients, a success that is attributed to a number of things such as personally handling all claims as Bonafide attorneys and not shunting them over to paralegals and legal assistants as is common in most law firms, and working closely with highly regarded experts to craft a compelling case replete with bulletproof evidence that can stand up in a court of law or during insurance company negotiations: speaking of which, we are not afraid to litigate claims should we have reason to believe, based off the tone of the insurance company during preliminary negotiations and the extent of your injuries, as more often than not, taking a robust claim to court results in our client receiving maximum compensation allowable by law.

We run a bilingual firm (hablamos Español), we take on cases from across the country thanks to our referral agreements with top law firms and attorneys in most states, and last but not least is the fact that we take on cases on contingency fee basis, which simply means that there are ZERO UPFRONT FEES for the duration of the processing of the claim, as we only levy our fees at the end of the suit, and only if we’ve recovered compensation on your behalf.

If you or a loved one got injured while shopping, attending a corporate or social event, or even got injured at a rental property, please give us a call NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about your legal options for justice and compensation – our intake team is standing by.

Open and Obvious Danger Doctrine – Do You Still Have a Claim?

The open and obvious danger doctrine relieves a landowner or property owner of the duty to warn of a condition that is so patently obvious that the invitee should reasonably be expected to discover it themselves. This doctrine takes into consideration the objective visibility of the hazard and not the subjective awareness of the plaintiff.

Some examples of what could be construed as being clear and present include:

1. Puddles of water on the sidewalk next to a business on a rainy day
2. Stacked merchandize inside a store
3. A step-up or step-down that is clearly visible or marked

That said, the law asserts that just because a danger is visible does not automatically absolve the business owner of all responsibility. Here are some of the exceptions:

1. The foreseeability of harm regardless of the obviousness: If it can be determined that the property owner should have reasonably foreseen that the invitee might suffer injury despite the open and obvious nature of the danger, such as in the event that a store owner places and obvious display in a narrow aisle, they might foresee that customers distracted or focused on the goods for sale could easily trip on the display despite the obviousness of the condition
2. The unavoidable nature of the danger: if the invitee, although aware of the open and obvious danger has no other choice but to encounter it, the doctrine may be negated. For instance, if a tenant lives in an apartment next to a large oak tree with falling branches and has to park their vehicle next to said tree and has no choice but to traverse this area, they may be able to recover compensation should one of these branches fall off one day and hit them or damage their vehicle.

Best Premises Liability Injury Lawyers – Call Us NOW!

There are so many exceptions to the obvious danger doctrine in premises liability that it would take a legal thesis to exhaust them to our satisfaction: because of the complexity associated wit this doctrine, we would like to ask that you give our best premises liability injury attorneys a call NOW at (314) 481-63338 so we can assess your potential claim and advise further. You can call us from anywhere in the country, and remember, your first consultation with us is 100% FREE. Thanks for choosing McCready Law, and we look forward to helping you.