Property Owner's Duty

Believe it or not, landowners have different degrees of responsibility to different classifications of people who come onto their property. There are three main classifications of people in slip and fall cases that the law recognizes, as well as one sub-classification, each of which is outlined below.

Invitees
An invitee is a person invited onto property for business reasons, whether as a customer or a job applicant. Property owners owe the highest degree of care to invitees to ensure their safety. In these cases, the owner not only has a duty to repair and correct known dangers; he also has a duty to reasonably inspect for, discover, and correct unknown hazards in those areas of the premises that are not clearly designated to be "off-limits."

Licensees
A licensee is a social guest, allowed on the property for clearly social purposes. Property owners are required to ensure that conditions are safe for licensees, and are obligated to provide a high degree of care (but lower than the degree required for invitees). In cases involving licensees, the property owner is only required to take reasonable care to protect them from any known hazardous risks.

Trespassers
As you likely know, a trespasser is someone who is not authorized to be on a given piece of property. Landowners are not obligated to protect trespassers who intrude on their land without permission. The landowner's responsibility in this case is called zero duty; however, it should be noted that the landowner cannot lawfully, willfully injure trespassers unless they clearly intend to inflict harm.

Trespassing children
When children wander onto a property without authorization, landlords have a duty to ensure that their property is safe. Children are sometimes naïve to dangers on property, and could easily be lured to inspect the conditions further out of sheer curiosity: An abandoned well, empty or filled swimming pool, and heavy machinery are just a few examples of these “temptations” to children (legally referred to as attractive nuisances).

Landowners and victims are each entitled to legal counsel in slip and fall cases. For more information on the responsibility of property owners in slip and fall cases, contact our Texas law firm for a free legal consultation.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a slip and fall accident, call The Law Offices of Regis Mullen & Shane Mullen, Inc. now at (214) 747-5240 or CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A SIMPLE CASE FORM. Don’t delay! You may have a valid claim and be entitled to compensation for your injuries, but a lawsuit must be filed before the statute of limitations expires.