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When you visit someone else’s property, you are entitled to certain protections. The owner of the property in question must uphold their duty of care to anyone who may be on their property. Their failure to do so could see you suffer serious injury. This is where a quality personal injury attorney comes in.
You have the right to sue for monetary damages due to the injuries you got on someone else’s property. If you can prove that negligence contributed to your losses, both physical and otherwise, you can file a complaint with a local court. A Cook County premises liability lawyer could help you parse Illinois’s property laws and subsequently fight for compensation.
Premise liability accidents on someone else’s property tend to involve someone’s violation of their duty of care. To prove this violation, however, both the injured party and their attorney must prove the defendant’s negligence. Illinois courts break this necessity down into four stages:
As detailed below, the people who make their way onto a person’s private property fall into three different categories. Property owners owe each of these three individuals a different duty of care. In establishing a complaint, the injured party must assert their position on the defendant’s property, thus establishing a duty of care.
To take on liability for another person’s accident, a property owner must have either knowingly withheld information regarding dangerous conditions on their property or otherwise unreasonably failed to keep their property safe for visitors.
In the complaint issued by the injured party, they must indicate through the presence of evidence or witness testimony that the negligent conditions and communication on the part of the defendant caused the greatest percentage of their injuries.
Finally, the injured party, with help from a Cook County dangerous premises lawyer, must submit an estimate of the damages stemming from the accident. These damages can be economic and non-economic in nature.
The law recognizes three types of people who visit another party’s property. The role of the party involved in an accident can influence what duty the property owner owed them at the time of said accident. These roles include that of the invitee, licensee, and trespasser.
Guests and licensees warrant many of the same protections, as the Illinois Premises Liability Act and Amendment of 1995 rewrote any distinguishing features between the two categories. When visiting another person’s property, these parties should be protected from, or warned about, hazardous conditions that the property owner reasonably may have been aware of.
Adult trespassers, comparatively, do not receive any protections while on private property, save that which protects them from unwarranted violence on the part of the property owner. That said, any property owner who maintains a property under the “attractive nuisance” doctrine should make a reasonable point to protect child trespassers from harm. A premises liability attorney in Cook County could identify whether something counts as an attractive nuisance.
According to 740 Illinois Compiled Statutes 130, all interested parties must file premises liability claims within two years of the date of their injury. This deadline will only be extended if the injured party dies, upon which point an appropriate relative may file a wrongful death suit against the defendant.
Illinois business owners and residents owe the people who come onto their properties a duty of care. While your status on a person’s property may vary, there are circumstances that still protect you from deliberate and dangerous negligence. If you find yourself injured on another person’s property, and you believe negligence played a role in your losses, you have legal options available to you. A Cook County premises liability lawyer could sit down with you and discuss the accident in question. Schedule a consultation today.