Premises Liability Attorney in Houston
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Our Texan readers may be familiar with the 2013 Austin v. Kroger case. We’ll summarize the court case if you don’t know.
An employee named Austin took legal action against a major grocery store chain, Kroger, due to injuries suffered while at work. He argued Kroger’s had a legal obligation to ensure his safety at work, which he says they failed to do.
Austin’s case is the kind you’d hire a Houston premises liability attorney that Houston residents trust to handle. If you’re injured on someone else’s property, you can’t hire just any legal help. You need an experienced premises liability attorney who understands Texas premises liability law.
But what is premises liability, and how does it relate to personal injury law? What do these specialized attorneys do, and how can they help you during your time of need?
Read further before you hire an attorney for your injury case. We will discuss premises liability and what these lawyers do to help their clients, and how a premises liability law firm can guide you through a premises liability lawsuit.
Sample Case Results
What Is Premises Liability?
Premises liability is a variation of personal injury law. Premises liability focuses on where you were injured as opposed to how.
Austin was suing his workplace because he said they didn’t ensure he’d be safe while performing his duties. This case qualifies as premises liability because Austin was hurt while working at a grocery store due to alleged hazardous conditions.
The basis behind these cases is that the landowner (or non-owner resident) is responsible for safety-proofing their property. The property owner is held liable for injuries when they don’t provide reasonable safety measures or allow an unsafe condition to exist.
If you were injured on someone else’s property due to hazardous conditions, defective fixtures, poor maintenance, or lack of security, you may have grounds for a premises liability lawsuit.
Premises Liability Vs. Personal Liability
While on the subject, we should explain the differences between premises and personal liability. As mentioned earlier, premises liability focuses on where you’re injured and if it’s the property owner’s fault.
Personal liability focuses on who hurt you rather than where the injury happened. These incidents don’t need to occur at a specific location.
Getting accidentally hit in the face with a baseball would be a personal liability case. It doesn’t matter where you were when you suffered the injury, just that the ball hurt you.
Invitees, Social Guests, and Trespassers
Invitees come onto properties with the owner’s knowledge for commercial or professional reasons. Austin would be an invitee.
Social guests (or licensees) visit without commercial or mutually beneficial purposes. Your friends from the next town over would be social guests.
Trespassers may have been easy to figure out. These are people illegally and non-consentingly on your property. Some states distinguish between levels of care necessary for invitees and social guests.
Other states require both to be given equally high standards of care. In Texas, the highest level of care goes to invitees.
Property owners are obligated to defend them from reasonable risks they’re aware of. This isn’t the case with social guests. It’s why landlords aren’t typically responsible for a tenant’s guests’ injuries.
Your friends and family are considered social guests, and you’re supposed to make their residence safe. One exception includes hazardous, hidden issues before the owner takes control of the property.
The other exception happens when the landlord fails to make repairs in a competent, non-negligent manner.
Texan trespassers are entitled to a warning about non-obvious dangers if the property owner knows they’re on the premises.
Children on Property
Children are owed a higher duty of care, whether invitees or social guests. This is because they’re more vulnerable and less aware of dangers than adults.
A Houston premises liability attorney may easily prove liability can often prove the property owner should be held liable when a child is invited to a potentially hazardous property.
As with trespassing adults, children are owed a lesser duty of care. You still must warn them of danger if you know they’re on the property. You also have to accommodate “attractive nuisances.”
What Are Attractive Nuisances?
Attractive nuisance states you can be found responsible for an injured child even if they’re trespassers. People living in “dangerous surroundings” should be aware it might attract children.
You have to actively warn kids away from the hazard and take steps to ensure they don’t come to harm. Natural elements like creeks, rivers, and ponds aren’t considered attractive nuisances.
The landowner must have cultivated or maintained the potential danger themselves. Swimming pools are an example of an attractive nuisance.
This kind of negligence measures how much fault each party shares. We’ll go into further detail later. Just know that very young children under seven might not apply for consideration.
An incredibly young child could gain restitution even if they were injured after trespassing. However, kids actively breaking the law cannot seek legal compensation.
For example, a young girl vandalizing her neighbor’s home kicks in the screen door and is injured by the glass. The homeowner may not be liable, considering the injury happened during a crime.
What Is Neglect?
“Neglect,” in this instance, means “failure to care for.” Essentially, the property has been left to its own devices and is rendered unsafe. Broken stairway railings may count as neglect if they’re left unrepaired.
Any potential danger you know about that could lead to harm, and you refuse to take care of counts as neglect. Many property liability lawsuits are the result of negligence.
Anyone seeking to win a property liability case must prove the property owner neglected their responsibility to maintain the location. Here’s an example of what neglect looks like:
You’re getting your home painted next week, but your wooden steps are in poor condition. The bottom plank isn’t adequately nailed down, leading to multiple close calls.
You’re aware the steps are a hazard, but visitors can’t spot the faulty step so easily. People have told you multiple times (after almost tripping) you should do something before someone is hurt.
The responsible thing would be to repair the faulty bottom step to ensure the painting crew doesn’t fall. However, you don’t replace the step, and a painter seriously hurts themselves.
That worker can hold you responsible for the injury. The logic is that you knew the step was broken and failed to fix it before the painters came to your home.
You didn’t make repairs, so the painter’s injury is your fault. This example is you neglecting your duty of care to provide a safe environment for workers or visitors.
Types of Negligence
Negligence isn’t a “one size fits all” form of failure. It can take various forms depending on the situation. Below are a few examples.
Ordinary Negligence
“Ordinary” negligence is garden variety carelessness. Not paying attention to the traffic light or leaving a tripping hazard until it’s too late counts as carelessness.
Contributory and Comparative Negligence
This form of negligence examines how much fault you share for the incident. How much your involvement matters depends on the state.
A pure comparative fault state reduces how much the plaintiff (you) receives by a percentage proportional to your degree of fault.
In non-pure comparative fault states like Texas, you must share a specific percentage of fault. Texas has a 51% rule. This means plaintiffs don’t receive an injury claim if they’re 51% or more responsible for the accident.
Vicarious Negligence
Vicarious negligence (or vicarious liability) occurs when someone’s negligence can be passed onto another party. This is common in businesses.
Let’s say a worker is mopping the floor and forgetting to put up a sign results in a customer falling. The store owner can be held responsible even though the incident is technically the worker’s fault.
Gross Negligence
Gross negligence is extreme in its application. Typically, these cases involve a blatant disregard for people’s safety. Deliberately showing off your shooting skills in a highly populated area is gross negligence.
Types of Premises Liability Cases
A surprisingly large number of incidents can qualify as premises liability cases. Here is a list of what qualifies as such:
- Inadequate premises maintenance
- Defective safety gear and fixtures
- Slip and fall cases
- Elevator and escalator accidents
- Snow and ice incidents
- Bad security leads to assault or injury
- Swimming pool accidents
- Amusement park accidents
- Leaks or flooding
- Toxic chemical exposure
- Fires Premises liability has a wide range of scenarios because negligence can result in various unsafe conditions. A hospital worker may have legitimate cause to pursue a liability case if injured in a robbery.
These types of premises liability cases often involve unsafe conditions that property owners knew about—or should have known about—but failed to correct.
The worker could claim the property owner didn’t supply security, despite it being their responsibility.
The hospital may have to compensate them due to proof of fault if the worker provides evidence of guilt.
Speak with a Houston Premises Liability Lawyer Today
If you were injured on someone else, don’t wait to understand your rights. A skilled premises liability lawyer can investigate hazardous conditions, gather evidence, and determine whether the property owner should be held liable for your injuries.
At O’Hara Law, our experienced premises liability attorneys understand Texas premises liability law and know how to build strong premises liability lawsuits on behalf of injured clients. Whether your case involves a grocery store fall, unsafe apartment complex, or other dangerous property condition, we are ready to help.
Contact O’Hara Law today to speak with a trusted premises liability attorney and learn how our premises liability law firm can protect your rights and pursue the compensation you deserve.
In The News
What to Do After a Car Crash in Houston
Your health comes first. Even if your injuries seem minor, see a doctor.
Take photos of injuries, the dog, the scene, and anything that might prove what happened. Keep all medical records and bills.
Collect the dog owner’s information, insurance details, and the dog’s medical history.
Report the incident to animal control.
Contact our dog bite attorneys for legal guidance.
Why Hire a Houston Personal Injury Lawyer for Your Car Accident?
Skilled Negotiation
We push insurers to pay full value, not lowball early offers.
Trial-Ready
If a settlement isn’t fair, we’re prepared for court.
Network of Experts
We partner with medical specialists, accident reconstructionists, and life care planners across Houston.
Years of experience have taught Mr. O’hara that personal injury is just that — personal. why he works on a case-by-case basis. Mr. O’hara offers a personalized approach to every client, but the overarching goal remains the same. He always aims to seek justice on behalf of his clients.
Dr. Romin Tamanna is a Litigation Associate at O'Hara Law Firm, handling personal injury and employment cases. She holds advanced law degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois.
Rene Marcelo Flores is an associate attorney at O'Hara Law Firm, fluent in English and Spanish, and committed to serving clients from diverse communities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Texas law gives you two years from the accident date to file. But acting promptly helps preserve evidence and protect your rights.
Yes, you may recover compensation under Texas’s comparative negligence rules. Your fault must be 50% or less.
You may recover economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages can include medical costs, lost income, and future care. Non-economic damages might encompass pain and suffering, disfigurement, impairment and mental anguish.
Punitive damages may apply only in rare, gross negligence cases and are subject to caps under Texas law.
In The News
Channel 26 Fox News interviews Patrick O’Hara about a drowning that happened at a private park.