Dog bites can result in serious injuries and emotional trauma for victims. In Massachusetts, understanding the laws and regulations surrounding dog bites is important for both dog owners and those who have been injured. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
Poorly lit stairways and parking lots pose serious safety hazards, increasing the risk of slips, trips, and falls that can lead to severe injuries. Whether you are walking down a flight of stairs at a Boston sporting event, parking your car at Copley place or walking in the various buildings/parking lots in Boston’s Seaport district, you should be aware of the possibility of poorly lit facility and stairwells. According to the National Safety Council, falls are one of the leading causes of unintentional injuries in the United States, accounting for over 8 million emergency room visits annually.
Poor lighting can lead to other injuries as well. From strains and sprains to assaults, you may have grounds for a premises liability claim if you’ve been injured due to inadequate lighting in a public or private space. Here’s what you need to know:
The Importance of Adequate Lighting
Premises liability cases arise when individuals suffer injuries due to dangerous conditions on someone else’s property. These cases can encompass various scenarios, from slip and fall accidents to dog bites and beyond.
Read on to explore some common types of premises liability cases and learn how victims can seek compensation for their injuries. If you’ve been injured by another’s negligence, the skilled legal team at Altman & Altman, LLP can help.
Ensuring the safety of visitors and tenants is a major responsibility for property owners in Massachusetts. Negligent security can have severe consequences, leading to injuries, assaults, or property crimes that could have been prevented with proper measures in place. Understanding the legal implications of negligent security is essential for property owners to protect both their occupants and themselves.
Duty of Care in Property Security
Property owners have a legal duty to provide a reasonably safe environment for those on their premises. This duty extends to implementing adequate security measures to prevent foreseeable criminal activities. Negligent security occurs when property owners fail to fulfill this duty, resulting in harm to individuals due to criminal acts.
Premises liability is a core component of personal injury law, especially when it comes to the rights of guests and invitees on someone else’s property. Premises liability refers to the legal responsibility of property owners to maintain a safe environment for those who enter their premises. In Massachusetts, property owners owe different levels of care to visitors based on their legal classification.
Premises liability claims are not uncommon, and they often result in serious injuries. According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), over one million people visit the emergency room each year due to slip and fall accidents, a common type of premises liability claim. If you’ve been injured on another’s property, it is in your best interest to seek immediate legal counsel.
Whether you’re at a friend’s house, a shopping mall, or a restaurant, you have the right to expect a reasonably safe environment. Unfortunately, negligent property maintenance and unsafe conditions lead to countless injuries and deaths every year.
In Massachusetts, premises liability law holds property owners responsible for accidents and injuries that occur on their property. Read on to explore the key aspects of premises liability in Massachusetts and what you should know if you find yourself in such a situation.
Injured at the Mall: Who’s Responsible?
Accidents happen everywhere and shopping malls are no exception. Customers slip and fall in icy parking lots. Shoppers are pushed by rowdy Black Friday crowds. Escalators malfunction, causing catastrophic injuries and sometimes even death.
But if you are seriously hurt while at a mall, who is liable? In theory, the answer is simple: anyone who is negligent. In reality, many factors come into play. Where exactly did the accident happen? Could it have been prevented? Was it the fault of the mall owner or a tenant? If you have more questions than answers, a personal injury attorney can help you navigate the situation.
Many people know that bars can be liable for serving alcohol to customers who are obviously drunk. But did you know friends, family, and other private hosts may also be legally responsible for overserving their guests? While only commercial establishments are subject to Massachusetts liquor liability statutes, both businesses and private citizens can face penalties in civil court.
What does this mean to you? If you are injured by an intoxicated individual in Massachusetts, you have the right to sue not only that person but also whoever served that person too much alcohol.
When Does Alcohol Liability Law Apply?
Premises liability determines who is responsible if you are injured on a specific type of property. Whether it’s a home or a business, someone is at fault.
Residential Properties
On residential properties, homeowners or tenants may be liable for injuries on the property in question. Property owners have a duty to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition for people on the property lawfully. Injured people can make a claim against a property owner if they can prove that the owner breached this standard duty of care and that led to the injury. Assuming the injured party was lawfully present, the question in this type of litigation is namely: what condition was the property in at it pertains to the injury? Was the condition unreasonable for the property owner to leave unrepaired? Things get a bit complex when a landlord is leasing property to a tenant. The general rule is that the residential landlord is responsible for repairs that he had reason to know were required, even if the property is leased to a tenant.
In 2016, a 62-year-old man was seriously injured in a New York Costco store when a steel rod fell, striking him in the head. Peter Aurigemma Jr. has filed a lawsuit against the bulk retailer, alleging that he suffered damages due to dangerous and/or defective conditions.
According to the lawsuit, the victim was reaching for paper towels, which were located at least seven feet above floor level, when the steel pipe fell and struck him. Following the accident, Aurigemma Jr. suffered serious medical complications, including a concussion, loss of dexterity in his left hand, damage to the nerves and muscles surrounding his left eye, migraines, noise and light sensitivities, lapses in short-term memory, and even behavioral changes. As a result of these injuries, Aurigemma Jr. is seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages. A Boston personal injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured by another’s negligence.
Under premises liability law, property owners are responsible for maintaining reasonably safe conditions on their property so that visitors aren’t harmed. The “status” of the visitor is important when determining liability. For example, trespassers have less rights than invitees. If you are injured while trespassing on store property after hours, your chances of winning a premises liability lawsuit are quite limited. In the Costco case above, however, the victim was not trespassing. In this particular scenario, he would be considered an invitee, or someone who is invited onto the property for a certain purpose, such as shopping. When a store is open to the public, the invitation is implied.
Although fault in Aurigemma Jr.’s case is yet to be determined, it is possible that both parties could be at fault. Maybe he grabbed a ladder marked “employees only” to reach the paper towels, possibly making him partially at fault. And maybe the placement of a steel rod on top of a roll of paper towels also makes Costco partially at fault. In MA, when both parties are at fault, a “comparative fault” system is used to reduce the victim’s legal damages by his/her percentage of fault. Therefore, if the victim is found to be 25 percent liable for the accident, his/her personal injury award will be reduced by 25 percent.
And this isn’t Costco’s “first rodeo” when it comes to premises liability lawsuits. The company was ordered to pay more than $400,000 to a slip-and-fall victim with a fractured ankle in 2017, and a New York woman who was hit by a shopping cart on a Costco escalator was awarded nearly $10 million in 2014. In this most recent lawsuit, Costco will have to prove that it took reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of customers. The allegation that paper towels—intended for customer use—were stacked more than seven feet high may have the greatest impact on the outcome of the case. Aurigemma’s lawyers will also likely question why a steel pipe was placed in close proximity to those paper towels. A MA personal injury lawyer can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured due to another’s negligence. Continue reading
Boston Injury Lawyer Blog