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What to Do If You Are Injured on Commercial Property?

December 14, 2020

What to Do If You Are Injured on Commercial Property in Arizona

Injuries can occur anywhere. Sometimes they occur in your home. They can also occur in a vehicle accident. In other cases, defective products can cause severe injuries.

However, what happens if you or a loved one sustain an injury while on commercial property owned by another individual or entity?

Commercial property personal injury cases can become incredibly complicated, and there are various steps you can take to help ensure that you receive the compensation you are entitled to. Here, we want to discuss who is liable for a commercial property injury, what the responsibilities are for property owners, and how you can prove your case.

Who Is Responsible For the Injury?

Slip and fall injuries are the most common type of premises liability injury that occurs, but they are certainly not the only injuries on other people’s property. In general, anytime a hazardous commercial property condition causes an injury, the property owner can be held liable if it can be proven that their negligence was the reason for the hazardous condition.

Business Owners Have the Responsibility to Keep Guests Safe

Business owners and other commercial property owners have a responsibility to keep their guests safe. Any person who has a right to be on the property should be able to expect safe conditions. This means that a business owner should regularly inspect and maintain their entire property. They should remediate any hazardous conditions immediately. If a hazardous condition cannot be immediately rendered safe, then the property owner should place adequate warning signs around the hazard and cordon off the area to prevent injuries from occurring.

In order for a business owner or property owner to be held legally responsible for injuries sustained on their premises, the injury victim or their attorney will need to prove negligence. This can be done by:

  • Showing that the property owner owed a duty of care to the injury victim.
  • Providing evidence that the property owner breached their duty of care in some way. This includes showing that the property owner created a hazardous condition or failed to remedy known hazards.
  • Showing that the property owner’s breach of duty directly caused the injury to the victim.
  • Establishing that the injury victim sustained calculable monetary damages.

Proving Liability in Your Injury

Your number one goal after sustaining an injury, aside from obtaining medical care, is proving the liability of the other party. However, this is not always going to be easy, particularly when the other party is a commercial property owner. You can be sure that the at-fault party, their insurance carrier, and their legal team will all do what they can to deflect liability and avoid paying compensation. There are various steps that you can take to help prove your case, but your first phone call should be to a skilled Phoenix personal injury lawyer.

A personal injury attorney will be able to use their resources and legal expertise to do the following:

  • Obtain any photo or video surveillance of the incident itself
  • Speak to any eyewitnesses who saw the incident
  • Employee assistance from an accident reconstruction expert if necessary
  • Obtain commercial property owner safety, maintenance, and inspection records
  • Determine whether there was a history of injuries on that property

With the evidence that they gather, an attorney will piece together a strong case to prove the liability of the other party. They will negotiate with insurance carriers to obtain a fair settlement or prepare the case for trial if necessary.

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