New Port Richey is a beautiful and bustling city in Tampa Bay, Florida. With a rich cultural history and stunning natural sites, there are plenty of attractions to draw tourists and visitors to the New Port Richey area.
However, as in any busy town, there is no shortage of dangerous spaces where accidents could happen. In fact, with so many businesses creating spaces for tourists and other visitors to enjoy, premises liability accidents have become fairly common.
Premises liability claims are common in especially risky businesses or when busy or careless employers and managers fail to address dangerous conditions. In New Port Richey, over 13 million people work in leisure and hospitality; over 27 million people work in trade, transportation, and utilities; over 7 million work in logging and mining. These injuries can endanger workers and visitors alike, especially if managers are careless about safety practices.
If you have experienced an injury on someone else’s premises in New Port Richey because of dangerous working conditions or careless mistakes, you are not alone. To ensure that you recover as quickly as possible after your accident and get help to receive compensation for your suffering, hire a New Port Richey premises liability lawyer at the Lucas, Macyszyn, & Dyer Injury Firm to help you as soon as you can.
At the Lucas, Macyszyn, & Dyer Injury Firm, we have attorneys with decades of experience working in premises liability claims. We have helped dozens of victims like you recover the compensation they deserve after suffering from a premises liability accident.
Common Causes of New Port Richey Premises Liability Accidents
Premises liability cases can be complicated to define. According to Florida law, to pursue a premises liability case against the owner or manager of a premises where you were injured, you must “prove that the business establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it.”
Premises liability claims usually arise when an unsafe condition on a premises causes you to suffer an injury. You may slip and fall, trip and fall, or something similar.
The most common causes of premises liability accidents in New Port Richey include:
- Slips and falls on water or ice.
- Trips and falls that occur because of broken floorboards or stairs, misplaced cords, open cupboards, etc.
- Swimming pool accidents due to inadequate supervision of swimmers.
- Construction site accidents when managers fail to post warning signs for those driving or walking by.
- Parking lot accidents because of unsafe conditions or the failure of the property manager to install security measures.
- Lack of security when a property manager failed to provide lights and cameras on their property.
As you can see, the main causes for premises liability claims arise when an owner or manager fails to adequately address dangers on their property. However, there are some variations regarding how much responsibility a manager or owner must claim.
How to Prove a Premises Liability Claim
As with any accident that leads to personal injury, gathering evidence is necessary to prove that someone else was responsible for your accident and subsequent injury. If you can’t prove it, you won’t gain anything from a lawsuit.
In addition, you may need to prove that you were an invitee (i.e., a customer or invited friend) or a licensee (i.e., a visitor or independent contractor), not a trespasser, as Florida doesn’t always hold owners responsible for injuries to people trespassing on their property.
Here is what you need to make clear if you are to successfully claim and receive compensation for your injuries:
- Prove that you were not trespassing or drunk when you entered the premises.
- Prove that the owner or manager owed you a duty of care such as any reasonable person should expect.
- Prove that the owner or manager acted negligently by failing to provide you with the care you deserved.
- Prove that the negligence of the owner or manager caused you to have an accident.
- Prove that the accident severely damaged your way of life.
If your lawyer can help you prove these things, you should be able to pursue a premises liability claim against the owner or manager who allowed you to suffer injury.
Evidence Needed for a Premises Liability Claim
When you’re trying to prove that someone else caused you significant and damaging injuries because of their careless actions, you will need to gather quite a lot of evidence.
The evidence you need may include:
- Medical bills and records testifying to the severity and impact of your injuries.
- Receipts for other costs associated with your accident, such as the purchase of medical equipment or the cost to repair a phone or something else damaged in your accident.
- A journal detailing the personal, physical, financial, and emotional struggles you have experienced since your accident.
- Eyewitness testimony from anyone who saw the accident.
- A police report from the accident if the police came to the scene.
- Any available photos or video recordings from the accident scene.
- Testimony from friends or family detailing how you have suffered because of the accident.
- Testimony from medical experts who can explain how your injuries will affect your life long-term.
- Documentation of lost work and income.
After the initial accident, start by keeping paper copies of as much relevant evidence as possible. Then, get in touch with a premises liability lawyer in New Port Richey to report your accident and get help gathering the evidence that’s harder to come by. Your lawyers can help you build a demand letter and a strong case out of the available evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions About Premises Liability Claims in New Port Richey
After experiencing an accident, most victims have many questions. Here are some of the most common that pertain to premises liability.
Q: Who Should Be Held Responsible for My Accident?
A: In some situations, it can be hard to know who exactly is responsible for your accident. In many cases, it will be the property manager who failed to address an obvious danger on the premises. However, you may also be able to sue the property owner, especially if they didn’t hire a manager to work below them on caring for the property.
If you’re not sure who injured you, is reach out to a premises liability lawyer who can research the accident and determine liability.
Q: What Kinds of Damages Can I Collect Compensation for in a Premises Liability Claim?
A: As you may know, the method of calculating how much compensation you can receive from a premises liability lawyer depends on what kinds of damages you suffered, whether economic or non-economic.
Various factors will determine what your case is worth and what you can use to determine how much compensation you deserve.
The common damages you can collect in premises liability claims include:
- Medical expenses for emergency room visits, surgeries, ongoing therapy, medication prescriptions, and the cost of medical equipment.
- Property damage expenses, if applicable (e.g. if you broke your phone in a bad fall).
- Loss of income from time taken off of work to recover from your injuries.
- Loss of earning capacity if you cannot return to work in the same capacity or position as you worked before your accident.
- Pain and suffering from all your physical and mental injuries.
- Emotional trauma or distress (e.g. ongoing nightmares, PTSD, etc.).
- Loss of life enjoyment from activities you can no longer perform after your injuries.
- Loss of consortium if you lost strong relationships with loved ones after the accident.
- Disfigurement or scarring as well as any accompanying humiliation.
Depending on the circumstances of your case and the kind of evidence you have available, the kinds and amounts of damages you can recover may vary considerably. You must get in touch with a lawyer as soon as possible to ensure that you get all you deserve and gather the evidence necessary to pursue it.
Q: What Is the Process of a Premises Liability Claim?
A: If you’re not sure how it works, here is a quick rundown of the steps you can expect to follow when you decide to pursue a premises liability claim against the at-fault party (i.e., the defendant).
- Call a premises liability lawyer for a free consultation to determine the extent of your case and how to get started.
- Meet with the lawyer in person to discuss the case in-depth and sign a contract so that the lawyer can act as your legal representation.
- Gather evidence such as medical bills and records, witness testimonies, and other important information your lawyer can use in the initial demand letter.
- Send a demand letter detailing the circumstances of your accident and the damages you have suffered because of it.
- Receive a response from the defendant either rejecting your demand or making an initial settlement offer.
- Continue gathering evidence with help from your lawyers. Lawyers will find any evidence the defendant’s lawyers may have and will take interrogatories (written questionnaires) and depositions (verbal questionnaires) from each involved party.
- Negotiate for a favorable settlement.
- Go to court if you cannot settle.
- Argue your case in court. Your lawyers will take care of most of this work by gathering and presenting evidence before the judge and jury assigned to your claim. You will likely have to testify, as will any witnesses and potentially some of your family members.
- Receive the verdict handed down by the judge and jury and then, with help from your lawyer, take home your settlement check to pay off your bills and get back to living your life as normally as possible.
Why Hire the Lucas, Macyszyn, & Dyer Injury Firm
Our job is to prove that the property owner or manager should have known about the hazard that caused your accident and should have done something about it. We work hard to do just that in every case so that you can receive the compensation you deserve and get back to living life as freely as possible.
We provide you with supportive resources for gathering evidence and pursuing the recovery process. We meet with you regularly to discuss your case and help you decide what steps to take next. We help you calculate an accurate settlement amount so that you don’t have to settle for any low-ball offers from the insurance company.
While premises liability cases can be complicated and can take a long time to resolve, they’re important to us. Our attorneys will dedicate their time and resources to helping you get through your case as quickly as possible. We will handle tough negotiations for you so that you can carry on with your recovery without the hassle and stress of trying to solve legal matters on your own.
After a premises liability accident in New Port Richey, don’t hesitate to seek legal counsel as soon as possible. With the right lawyers, you can build a strong case and pursue your rightful compensation. We ensure that you get every penny you deserve, and you won’t have to pay us anything unless we are successful in securing compensation for you.
If you were injured on a negligence person’s property, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Lucas, Macyszyn, & Dyer Injury Firm for a free consultation by calling (727) 849-5353 so we can start on your claim today.