The Southeast Texas Record reports that a 68 year old woman is suing a Port Arthur, Texas Walgreens for negligence after she sustained serious injuries in a fall at the store. Texas businesses have a legal obligation to keep their property in reasonably safe condition for invited guests. If you have been injured by negligent conditions at a business, an experienced San Antonio premises liability lawyer can help you recover fair compensation for your damages.
Premises Liability in Texas
Premises liability is legal doctrine which helps victims injured by negligent property conditions recovery fair compensation from a business. Property owners have a basic duty to make reasonable efforts to eliminate dangerous conditions on their premises. Texas places the burden of proof on the injured victim in these case. That means that you will need to prove that a property owner was negligent in order to recover damages. The professional services of a qualified San Antonio premises liability lawyer are critical.
Proving Negligence in a Texas Premises Liability Case
Texas businesses are required to use a reasonable level of care when it comes to maintaining safe conditions on their property. Proving negligence requires proving that the property owner failed to provide this standard of care. Your attorney will examine a number of important details in your case. This includes:
- The circumstances by which you found yourself on the property;
- The extent to which the accident, and resulting injuries, were foreseeable; and
- The extent to which the property owner made reasonable attempts to mitigate the injury risk.
These are all key questions. For example, if you were trespassing on someone’s property, it will be much more difficult to prove that the property owner was negligent in a Texas premises liability case. Property owners do not owe trespassers nearly the same duty to provide safe conditions as they owe to invited guests. In most cases, such as in the Walgreens slip and fall case, the circumstances by which the injured party found themselves on the property will not be a disputed issue. Customers are clearly invited guests. In the Walgreens case, the woman was severely injured because her shoe got stuck on an old tattered rug. In this case, the pivotal question will be whether or not someone tripping on that tattered rug, and suffering serious injuries, was reasonably foreseeable. Rugs typically do not become tattered over night, if the store owner could prove otherwise, that might change the circumstances. But, based on the assumption that this rug likely became slowly tattered over time, it will be difficult for the store owner to argue that they made a reasonable attempt to mitigate the risk. If you have any questions about how to prove negligence in a premises liability case, you should speak to an experienced San Antonio personal injury attorney.
Texas businesses have a legal responsibility to keep their premises free of dangerous conditions. The failure to eliminate unreasonable risks is negligence. The Law Offices of Ronald A. Ramos works to help the injured victims of negligent Texas businesses. If you have been injured at a San Antonio business, please contact our office and schedule a free case evaluation.
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