We often hear about lawsuits that arise when someone has an accident and gets hurt in someone else’s home, place of business, or on their property. What happens, however, when it’s your home, but you’re renting from someone else? What happens if you trip and fall on the stairs in your apartment complex?
Can you sue your landlord for your injuries and collect compensation? The answer, just as with any suit of this type, depends on the circumstances of the injury and accident. Learn the details of who can sue following an accident and injury in an apartment complex, and how a premises liability lawyer can help.
Slip and Fall Accidents
If someone is in your home or at your place of business, and they slip and fall, you might be held liable. The circumstances that determine culpability involve your knowledge and ability to address the situation before an injury occurred. We all have a basic duty of care to others around us. This means that we’re responsible for acting in a reasonable fashion to avoid putting others in dangerous situations.
As an example, if someone is in your home and there’s a nail sticking up from the floor, upon which they step and it causes them serious injury, are you responsible? You could be held responsible if you knew the nail was there and you failed to attempt to fix the problem, and you failed to take the time to warn your guest of the danger. If you didn’t know the danger was there, you couldn’t be responsible for fixing it, but you may have a tricky time proving that in court.
When Your Landlord Is Not Responsible
So what about a situation in your apartment complex, which your landlord is technically responsible for maintaining? If you slip and fall in your apartment complex, consider the following questions:
- Did your landlord know about the dangerous situation that caused your fall?
- How recently did the situation occur? Has the landlord had time to address it?
- Did you know about the danger prior to your fall?
- Was it the landlord’s responsibility to fix it?
Let’s look at these questions. If the situation (say, a loose bit of carpet on the stairs) just occurred, and either nobody has told the landlord about it, or the landlord just found out and hasn’t had a reasonable opportunity to address it, they might not be responsible.
Likewise, if there was a clause in the lease-holding tenants responsible for such things, the landlord may not be responsible (in this case that’d be rare). If you knew the danger was there and didn’t try to avoid it, your landlord may not be responsible.
Hiring a Premises Liability Lawyer
If you slip and fall in your apartment building and aren’t sure if your landlord is responsible, call on the services of a qualified premises liability lawyer. The Oklahoma City attorneys at Parrish DeVaughn Law Firm have years of experience dealing with these kinds of cases and know how to address your case and get you the compensation you deserve. Give us a call for more information and help today!
