Johnny Devine PA | Attorney | Personal Injury | Criminal Defense | Landlord-Tenant Law

“I’ve been injured on someone else’s property, what should I do?”

When you’ve been injured on someone else’s property, it’s time to call your attorney . . . Johnny Devine.

Even a safety-minded, cautious person can be severely injured due to a dangerous property condition. There are many dangerous property conditions that could cause injury, such as: unstable collapsing shelves, products falling off shelves, cracked or uneven flooring, poor lighting, loose handrails, uneven or broken stairs, mechanical failures in elevators or escalators, falling objects, broken or unstable furniture, swimming pools, inadequate or malfunctioning security equipment, just to name a few.

It’s important to know that the owner or occupier of the premises may be liable for the accident and injuries that you suffer. Under Florida law, property owners have a responsibility (a duty of care) to keep their property in a reasonably safe condition for visitors and customers. The law applies not only to homeowners, but also to small-business owners, property managers of large commercial properties (such as shopping malls and hotels), grocery store owners, gym owners, bar and restaurant owners, and many more. The law also applies to those who occupy a property (like a shop owner leasing a property in a strip mall or a tenant leasing a rental property).

Some properties and businesses (including shopping centers, restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels) must provide adequate and functional security equipment such as surveillance cameras, alarms, or security guards. Victims of inadequate security precautions have endured a range of serious injuries, including: assault, battery, robbery, kidnapping, rape, murder, and other violent crimes.

In Florida, in order for an injured person to have a successful premises liability case, the injured person must prove:

• The owner or occupier of the property knew or should have known the property had a dangerous condition
• The owner or occupier of the property did not remedy or repair the dangerous condition or did not provide notice to visitors or customers regarding the dangerous condition

In general, a property condition is considered dangerous if the condition presents an unreasonable risk of harm to persons on the property and a reasonable person would not have anticipated the condition existed on the property.

If you’ve been injured on someone else’s property, you may be entitled to recover compensation for areas of your life that have been negatively affected by the injury, such as: medical bills, prescriptions, future medical expenses, pain and suffering as well as future pain and suffering, permanent impairment or disability, rehabilitation, chiropractic care, physical therapy, suffered psychological effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), loss of income, and loss of earning capacity, to name just a few.

For all these reasons, it is important to have an experienced attorney on your side, protecting your rights, and fighting for every dollar of monetary compensation to which you are entitled! Johnny Devine has extensive experience in premises liability cases in Florida.

Here is some important information and helpful suggestions in case you are injured due to a dangerous condition on another’s property:

• If you have been injured, call 911 or immediately seek medical treatment
• If paramedics arrive at the scene, point out to them the cause of the accident and ask them to state in their records the cause of the accident
• Report the incident to the owner or management on site
• Get owner or management information: name, address, phone numbers
• Get employee information: names, addresses, phone numbers
• Get witness information: names, addresses, phone numbers
• Use your camera phone to take pictures of the scene of the incident
• If you complete any type of incident report for the owner or business,
  make certain you receive a copy or use your camera phone to take a picture of the completed form
• If receiving medical treatment, give your treating physician a detailed description of the incident, the injuries sustained, and any and all current pain complaints
• IMPORTANT: Consult with Johnny Devine, P.A. before discussing your case with the owner or an insurance company.

Remember: whether it’s the owner of the premises or an insurance company, you can tell them to call your attorney . . . Johnny Devine!