Premises Liability Lawyer in McAllen, TX
When someone is injured by a dangerous or hazardous condition on someone else’s property in McAllen, the accident victim may be entitled to seek compensation from the property owner’s insurance company. The accident victim may pursue compensation for medical bills and losses related to the injury including lost wages and pain and suffering.
Every premises liability actions require evidence of the hazardous condition. Premises liability claims are considered some of the most complex cases in personal injury law. If you or a loved one has a premises liability claim, you need an experienced McAllen premises liability lawyer to put you in the best position to recover the compensation you need to regain financial stability and move forward.
With more than 100 years of collective experience, the McAllen premises liability attorneys at Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C., proudly stand up for the legal rights of people injured by dangerous property conditions. We use our firm’s resources, including our experienced Accident Investigation Team, to help us identify the critical evidence in your property injury case and build the strongest case for a just settlement.
We strive to provide our clients with individualized legal representation that can help them through the process of recovering from an injury and pursuing financial compensation from those responsible. Every premises liability case has unique facts and stands on its own. But the results we’ve achieved for our clients speak to our experience handling these types of cases.
The efforts we put forth to help our clients are reflected by the many positive comments that clients have left us on Google, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
Our firm has offices in McAllen, Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi South Side, Brownsville, San Antonio, Houston, and Ft. Worth . We also have staff that speaks both English and Spanish to serve clients in the language they prefer to use when discussing legal matters.
If you’ve been injured on someone else’s property, contact the McAllen premises liability lawyers at Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C., today to schedule a free case evaluation. Contact us online or call (361) 882-4357.
How Can a Premises Liability Attorney Help Me?
If you or a loved one has been injured by a condition on someone else’s property, you may be entitled to seek compensation for your injuries and damages in a premises liability claim. When you have such a claim, a premises liability attorney can help you maximize the financial recovery you obtain in your claim by:
- Thoroughly investigating your accident and injury, including recovering critical evidence such as accident/incident reports, surveillance video, accident scene photos, eyewitness statements, and your medical treatment reports.
- Documenting your damages, including collecting your medical bills and invoices and receipts for other out-of-pocket expenses, calculating your lost wages and income, and helping you build a case to explain your pain and suffering.
- Working with experts to build a persuasive legal case, including engineers and accident reconstruction experts to show how your accident occurred, and medical and financial experts to explain what kind of recovery you will need to undergo and the financial impacts your injury will have on your life and ability to work.
- Aggressively negotiating for a full and fair settlement, avoiding the tactics used by insurance companies and defense law firms to get you to accept less than the compensation you deserve.
- Preparing to take your case to trial, if it becomes necessary, which shows the other side how serious we are about winning your case.
Premises Liability Laws in Texas
Under Texas law, when you are injured on another person’s or a business’s property due to dangerous, hazardous, or unsafe conditions, or the negligence of the property or business owner, then the owner may potentially be held liable for damages arising from your injuries in a premises liability action.
Texas law recognizes three basic types of premises liability:
- Standard negligence – In a standard negligence premises liability case, the injured victim has been hurt by some sort of dangerous condition of the property. In order to prove liability for standard negligence, an injured person must prove that (1) the property had a dangerous or hazardous condition, (2) the condition caused the person’s injury, (3) the owner or operator of the property created, knew of or should have known about the condition, and (4) the property owner had reasonable opportunity to correct the condition and failed to do so.
- Negligent undertaking – A negligent undertaking premises liability case arises when a property owner or operator assumes a duty or obligation that the owner or operator would not otherwise have under the law. Negligent undertaking premises liability claims most often arise in the landlord/tenant relationship, usually when the tenant complains of a condition of the property that the landlord fails to fix, and the tenant is later injured by the condition. To prove a negligent undertaking premises liability case, you must show (1) the owner or operator of the property assumed a duty or obligation to you, (2) you relied on the owner or operator to perform that duty or obligation, (3) you were injured as a result of the owner’s or operator’s failure to perform the assumed duty or obligation.
- Negligent activity – In a negligent activity premises liability case, an injured person alleges that the property owner’s or operator’s employees, contractors, agents, or servants injured the person while working on the property; for example, a waiter spilling hot coffee all over a customer. In order to prove a negligent activity premises liability claim, you must show that the employee/agent/servant did not act as another reasonable person would have under identical or similar circumstances, and the employee’s/agent’s/servant’s behavior led to the injured person’s harm.
Types of Premises Liability Lawsuits
As a general matter, premises liability lawsuits stem from a range of situations where a property owner did not take the necessary care to protect a visitor on their property.
Premises liability accidents and cases can take on many different forms, including:
- Slip and fall or trip and fall accidents
- Defective stairways
- Elevator and escalator accidents
- Supermarket or shopping center accidents
- Sidewalk trip and fall accidents
- Dog and animal attacks
- Negligent security
- Amusement and recreational park accidents
- Fires
- Building code violations
- Exposure to disease or toxic substances
In most cases, a property or property manager bears responsibility for a premises liability action.
Who Is Responsible for My Injuries?
Property owners or operators/occupiers of property have a responsibility to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition so that people who come onto the premises don’t suffer injury. In many cases, multiple parties may have some involvement with the property where you suffered an injury due to a dangerous or hazardous condition or due to negligence. The party that is liable for your injuries depends on the circumstances of your accident.
The liable party may include:
- The property owner
- A business owner
- A residential tenant
- A maintenance company hired to maintain or repair the property or certain conditions on the property
Determining the at-fault party will require examining the contractual relationship between the parties involved with the property, which may spell out who assumed responsibility to maintain the property or repair a hazardous condition that caused your injury.
In addition, a property owner’s or operator’s liability for your injuries may depend on your status when you entered the property:
- Invitee – An invitee is someone who is invited to enter the premises by the owner or operator for the benefit of the owner or operators. Store or restaurant customers are an example of invitees. Property owners/operators owe a duty to exercise reasonable efforts to keep their properties free of dangerous or hazardous conditions for their customers.
- Licensee – A licensee is someone who has the owner’s or operator’s permission to enter the property, but the licensee does so for their purpose or benefits. Examples include postal workers and delivery drivers. Generally, a property owner/occupier owes a duty to warn a licensee of dangerous or hazardous conditions on the property that would not be obvious to the licensee.
- Trespasser – A trespasser does not have the property owner’s or operator’s permission to be on the property. A property owner/operator only owes a trespasser the duty to refrain from inflicting harm on the trespasser. Property owners/operators may be liable if a child trespasses on the property and is injured by an unsafe condition created by the owner/operator.
The responsibility for a premises liability injury can be difficult to determine in a landlord/tenant situation. Although landlords typically have no liability to tenants for injuries caused by conditions to the property, numerous exceptions to this rule do hold landlords responsible for premises liability injuries, including conditions in the common areas under the landlord’s control, or when a tenant requests that a landlord repair a dangerous or hazardous condition and the landlord fails to do so.
Contact a McAllen Premises Liability Lawyer Today
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury on someone else’s property in McAllen, TX, you need aggressive, experienced legal representation to help you secure the financial compensation that you need to get back on your feet.
Contact the McAllen premises liability lawyers of Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C., today to schedule a no-cost case review. You can speak with a McAllen personal injury lawyer about the details of your accident and learn about your rights and options for pursuing a financial recovery.
We are ready to help you with the compassionate and skilled client service that you need at this difficult time in your life. Contact us online or call (361) 882-4357.
Our firm has offices in the following locations: Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi South Side, Brownsville, McAllen, San Antonio, Houston, and Ft. Worth , TX.