Premises Liability / Negligent Security Lawyers in Miami, FL

Premises Liability

Premises liability refers to a type of personal injury that occurs on the property of others. Both residential and commercial property owners are legally responsible for maintaining premises that are safe. If invited or uninvited guests, visitors or the general public are injured due to hazardous conditions, owners may be liable.

Examples of premises liability cases are slip, trip and fall accidents, swimming pool accidents and dog attacks, as well as serious injury and death, resulting from negligent storage of solvents, toxic chemicals, and other contaminants, falling objects, sinkholes or lack of security in areas known for high crime rates.

A property owner is not liable solely because an injury occurred on his property. If you are injured at someone else’s home or business, in order to file a premises liability claim, you will have to prove the owner or an employee created the hazard that caused the injury, that the owner was aware of the dangerous condition, or that the hazard existed long enough for the owner to have learned of and had the opportunity to fix the problem, during periodic property inspection and maintenance.

Premises liability claims may arise from numerous conditions including,but not limited to:

• Slippery or dangerous walkways
• Inadequate or defective lighting
• Missing handrails
• Unsupervised swimming pools
• Toxic substances
• Defective design
• Inadequate security
• Dog attacks

If you are involved in a premises liability accident, you will need the legal advice and guidance of a trusted Miami injury lawyer to hold liable parties responsible.

Negligent Security

As crime rates increase in South Florida, negligent or inadequate security is a form of premises liability that presents a growing concern for a host of business operations. Owners of hotels, motels, restaurants and shopping malls as well as hospitals, college campuses, condominiums and apartment buildings all have a duty to ensure their customers, students and residents are safe from aggravated assault, robbery, rape, shootings, manslaughter and other injuries.

While business owners are not generally liable for crimes committed on their property, if a business or rental building, for example, is in an area known for criminal activity, the law will require the owner to have reasonable security measures in place to protect customers or residents. Security guards, improved lighting in parking lots, doorways, stairwells, and elevators, as well as cameras, sturdy locks on windows and doors and gated entrances are all added steps that improve premises security.

At Fournaris & Sanet, our attorneys have represented clients in high profile Miami negligent security cases. Of particular note is a case involving the death of a German tourist who was shot outside his motel when he tried to protect his wife from two assailants who where stealing her purse. On behalf of the victim’s wife, our attorneys sued the rental car company for failing to fulfill its legal duty to travelers by not removing stickers and license tag numbers that identified the car as a rental and the hotel for lack of adequate security.